About us

Our vision
As a Christian non-profit organization Help a Child wants every child – regardless of their social, political, religious, ethnic or economic background – to have a life in dignity, with love and with a promising future.

Help a Child is there for all children living in poverty. After all, every child is a unique gift from God and that is the foundation upon which Help a Child operates. Our Christian identity is reflected in various ways in our work:

• our staff members work from a Christian conviction;
• we collaborate with local churches and Christian partner organizations;
• in our training programs, we incorporate Bible verses or Christian examples whenever possible when imparting knowledge.

Our core values
We believe that the motivation with which we do our work makes a difference. As Help a Child colleagues we are inspired to love, called to justice, moved to mercy, invited to reconciliation, motivated to stewardship, and dependent on God. These Christian principles inspire us to give our best in all circumstances. Our core values are:

We value every child
We believe that every child is a unique gift from God, made in His image. We include all children, no matter their background, religion or abilities.

We believe in the strength of the people we help
We encourage children, youth, and adults to use their God-given abilities. We empower community structures and strengthen local resources.

We are faithful
We are trustworthy and accountable to the ones we support and the ones supporting us. We use our resources wisely, effectively, and efficiently.

We embrace partnership
We work together in relationships with mutual trust and respect. We are loyal and honest and expect the same from our partners.

We learn and adjust
We are eager to learn and open-minded. We appreciate feedback and we learn from our mistakes.

Sustainable impact

Help a Child creates sustainable impact for children. We want to support children living in poverty and crises to have a better future. We achieve this by empowering our target groups, enabling them to independently enhance their living conditions and increase their resilience and coping mechanisms to deal with the crises they face.

Empower people

As a Christian organization, we believe that every human being and every child is uniquely created in the image of God. All our efforts need to result in people who have the strength and perspective to improve their own situation and the confidence to develop within their own context.

Holistic care

Help a Child understands that poverty and crisis are multidimensional, therefore we believe in holistic approaches. Providing children with a better future is a comprehensive goal, encompassing multiple domains. We support children to be Healthy & Strong, Educated for Life, Social & Emotionally Developed and living with Hope & Dignity. As an organization, we focus on what we do best and cooperate with other actors to achieve the rest.

Engage our constituency

Our reason to exist is children in need, our right to exist is our constituency. To engage people in the Netherlands in our work is crucial in a world in which we are connected as brothers and sisters. As an organization we feel the obligation, due to our shared values of compassion and love, to create awareness and to function as a bridge between the families in the Netherlands and families in need worldwide.

Our motivation

We believe that the motivation with which we do our work makes a difference. As Help a Child colleagues, we are inspired to love, called to justice, moved to mercy, invited to reconciliation, motivated to stewardship and dependent on God. These Christian principles inspire us to give our best in all circumstances.

Our history
Help a Child began with a letter. That letter came from India and described the dreadful poverty which children there had to endure. Its recipients were Hans and Anky Rookmaaker, who heard in it the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ:

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for the one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

Anky Rookmaaker set about making connections with people in India who also heard the Lord’s call and who wanted to help. She made connections with people here in the Netherlands who would be willing to contribute the necessary resources. Together with Mr. Slothouber, she and her husband founded ‘Stichting Redt een Kind’ on 28 March 1968.

55 years later
Now, 55 years later, Help a Child continues to work in areas with a high incidence of poverty or in places where children and families are extra vulnerable due to disasters or (imminent) conflicts. We not only operate in India, but also in Kenya, Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Somalia and DR Congo. In these countries, we implement our approach; a sustainable method that makes a difference in the short term and creates an impact in the long term. Our reason to exist are the vulnerable children and families we want to support, but our right to exist is the loyal group of supporters that have enabled us already for more than 55 years to do our work on their behalf.