WELCOME to Out of Africa's on-line shopping facility.

This on-line shop has been designed for you, the sponsor and any interested donor to be able to choose and purchase gifts for your sponsored child.

The aim of the shop is to cater for your child's specific needs, whether they are in need of food, school supplies, clothing or anything else.

Using our paying facility, the funds will then be directed to Kenya, where the items will be purchased and presented to the recipient.

The idea of providing a shopping facility for OOA sponsors arose from problems we encountered with sponsors sending gift packages to their children.

On top of the high postage costs that sponsors pay to send parcels to Kenya, OOA also has to pay the Post Office between 5-8 per package upon collection. These high costs make it an expensive way to provide children with assistance.

Using the OOA shop, the sponsor can choose an appropriate gift for their child, OOA staff in Kenya will be able to buy good, quality products from a wide local selection.

The children can also visit the local markets to choose their clothes, books, etc, themselves, which makes it an exciting and involving opportunity for them.

HOW YOUR GIFTS CAN HELP

Some of the problems encountered amongst the sponsored children are:

· Inadequate diet - lack of protein can lead to disease, weakening the children

By supplying your child/family with additional food will help to overcome problems with hunger, lack of protein, and related illnesses

· We discovered that some parents could not afford to buy bed sheets, towels and underwear for their family.

· Before the children are sponsored you will notice in the photographs they do not wear shoes, their clothes may be dirty and tattered.

A sponsor's money will cover the cost of one school uniform, a pair of shoes, school bag, but isn't enough to stretch to extra casual clothes and shoes.

Feedback we have had from the children themselves has shown that given a choice they would enjoy things like footballs, skipping ropes, a solar radio, and essential items for their studies.

By providing this shopping facility, we hope, you, the sponsor will have fun and enjoyment choosing gifts for your children. Though not the same as going into town and purchasing gifts to wrap and send in the post, you can be assured that your child will be benefiting in a very real way, and making choices for themselves, at the same time cutting out the costs of expensive postage and the possibility of the package being lost or stolen.

THANK YOU for your continued support of Out of Africa and your sponsored child.