In memory of Sophia, who died on March 15th 2020 when she was only 13 years old, the Sophia Zaveri foundation contributes to three charities which reflect the spirit, compassion and bi-cultural roots of her caring and nurturing nature.

BMI proudly supports The Sophia Zaveri Foundation

In memory of Sophia, who died on March 15th 2020 when she was only 13 years old, the Sophia Zaveri Foundation contributes to three charities which reflect the spirit, compassion and bi-cultural roots of her caring and nurturing nature.

Sophia lived in the UK, but was born in Brazil and loved going back there to visit. She loved the warmth and the people, and whenever she saw a poor person or a young child selling something to make money, she would say, “Can’t we help them or please buy something?”

Sophia loved children and helping others and had already decided that she wanted to help orphans and the poor in her gap year before university. Sadly, she will never have that chance, but her family believed she would have become a doctor, nurse or teacher so that she could do as much as possible to help others.

Sophia will be eternally missed not only by her family but by everyone whose life she touched. Because of her constant desire to help, the foundation has been set up to honour her memory and keep her light shining by helping others.

The foundation provides funding in three areas:

Support for Orphanages

Sophia always loved young children. She liked to play with them, make them laugh, take care of them and always felt comfortable and fulfilled around younger kids. She wanted to work with orphans in the future and The Sophia Zaveri Foundation will therefore offer continuous year-round support of food and supplies to an orphanage in Salvador which shelters and educates young children. Depending on donations and ongoing funding, the foundation hopes to build and open a new orphanage.

Support for Families in Extreme Poverty

The foundation supports families in small towns in Bahia who are in extreme poverty. This means they are earning less than R$600 a month, which is approx. US$115, £90 or €105 at today’s exchange rate (April 2020). These are families who are not covered by government aid programmes and never have enough food to eat; the foundation is helping by supplying food and other items for them each month.

Support for Future Teachers and Doctors from Impoverished Families

We support students from very poor families who, despite going to under-funded, under-equipped state high schools, were smart enough to get into a one of the highly competitive federal universities where they are studying to become doctors or teachers. However, even though education is free in Brazilian federal universities, students often fail or drop out because they can’t even afford the bus fare to university, or they have to stop their studies in order to work to help feed the family or to deal with other life needs and hardships. The foundation covers a significant part of their expenses for the rest of their university studies to make sure that they can complete their degrees and achieve their dream of being a doctor or teacher. Depending on funding, we hope to increase the number of students supported each year.

How you can help

BMI is providing ongoing financial and logistical support in Brazil. Please help us further the work of the foundation by supporting with a small donation here  where you can also find detailed information about the foundation. We welcome donations of any size so we can continue with and further expand the principle causes and objectives of The Sophia Zaveri Foundation.