Addressing the letter/card
World Vision greeting cards and letters
If you’re sending a greeting card that World Vision has sent to you to complete, or a letter on the writing paper that we provide
(we send this annually), then you simply need to send this in the addressed envelope provided.
Email
The email will be automatically sent to your sponsored child’s country, where it will be printed and hand-delivered to them.
(Please visit our Availability page to confirm the email service is available in your sponsored child’s country.) Your own cards, postcards and stationery
If you’re writing your own letter/card, please follow these instructions:
- At the top of the letter or card, write your sponsored child's name and ID number, and your name and supporter number.
- Don’t include your address anywhere in the letter/card. In very poor communities your address could be used for unsolicited approaches for money or other requests.
- All letters, cards and postcards should be sent in an envelope.
- Address the envelope to the World Vision office in the country where your sponsored child lives.
This address can be found inside your sponsored child's picture folder, you can also find it on our list of National Offices. - Write your name and address on the back of the envelope flap.
- Write your sponsored child's name and ID number below the envelope flap
(you can find these details inside your sponsored child's picture folder). - Don’t send aerograms because your address appears in the middle of the letter.
How does my letter/card get there?
Writing and receiving letters is fun but it may take as long as 3 months for your mail to reach your sponsored child. It can then take just as long to receive a reply
(see Will I get a reply?).
When your letter/card leaves Australia it’s sent to the local World Vision office in your sponsored child’s country. From here it’s forwarded to your sponsored child’s area and translated. Your letter/card will be hand-delivered by our dedicated staff. Delays happen because:
- World Vision staff deliver all letters in person. This sometimes requires a long walk or a journey using poor transport. It’s not uncommon for letters to travel by foot, boat, truck, bicycle, donkey or horse before they reach your sponsored child.
- Roads may be rough and impassable during rainy seasons and severe winter conditions.
- Letters/cards are normally delivered to your sponsored child's school.
Sometimes there are delays during school holidays. - The child's family may move away for the harvest season or temporarily look for work in nearby communities.
- If the child is very young they need help writing a letter.
- If your sponsored child doesn’t speak English, our staff will translate your letter/card.
To protect our sponsored children, all letters/cards are opened, logged and vetted to ensure they don’t contain offensive or inappropriate content. World Vision places the highest priority on child protection.
Will I get a reply?
In many cases the answer’s YES.
However due to infrastructure constraints and often unstable climatic, political and economic conditions where sponsored children live we can’t guarantee this. While not all letters/cards will be responded to, all child sponsors will receive an Annual Progress Report, with an update on their sponsored child’s development and their community.