Why Should I Help Asia, Underprivileged Kids, and GFA World?

In order to understand why Asia, underprivileged kids, and GFA World need help, one must understand the devastating effects of poverty. There are almost 3 billion people in the world that don’t have access to toilets and about 1 billion people who do not have access to clean drinking water. The poorest 20% of the world’s children are twice as likely as the richest 20% to be stunted by poor nutrition and die before their fifth birthday. Almost 3 million newborns around the world die within their first month of life. Over 160 million children globally do not attend primary school.[1]

These statistics are overwhelming, but they don’t have to stay that way. Countries in Asia are making strides in the right direction—in one country the infant mortality rate has halved, and two million fewer children are out of school—but there is still a long way to go. Malnutrition is still prevalent; In 2020, more than half of all children under 5 affected by stunting lived in Asia.[2] Education outcomes are still not great either since only 42.5% of children in grade 3 can read a grade 1 level text.[3] Clearly, there is still a lot of work to do, and GFA World is one of the organizations that is taking on that challenge. Vance is one example of someone who was helped in crucial fashion.

Vance lived in a slum and had to depend on his father’s meager income to provide. Unfortunately, his dad spent much of that small amount on alcohol instead of family necessities. Vance and the other children living in the slum frequently got sick due to no proper toilets, disease-ridden mosquitoes and no access to clean water. Life was truly dark and grim. Then, Vance’s father and stepmother heard about a program where impoverished children and their families could get help. GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program opened the door for Vance to receive an education and regular nutritious food. Vance was initially uninterested in education, but the careful counsel and attention of the program staff slowly encouraged him to take more care of himself and his studies. Tutors helped him improve in subjects, and the provided meals made sure he could make it through the day. Vance is now more confident, disciplined and happy, and his younger step-siblings are also enrolled in the sponsorship program too.[4]


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