It was really hard when we stopped receiving cute drawings. We're still have the GO AWAY CORONA :( drawing.
Edit: thanks OP for inspiring me, I've registered for monthly donations to the TEP.
You probably also don't want to focus on just one location to avoid becoming a dominant factor there making people expect that you'll help them. I can actually ask my friend how he approaches that, and if he has some advice. Personally I'd pick only a few cases per village, and more importantly, per school. Because I just remembered another thing my friend experienced: Many of the sponsored kids went to their school, and those kids started sticking together because they thought they were something special. Once he realized that he broke that up of course (I don't know how though) and made sure that the the sponsored kids would integrate with the rest as normal.
You are probably have thought of some of this yourself in some way, but I believe it is helpful to hear it from someone else too, to confirm or challenge your own ideas about that, and learn from the experience of others.
I had been planning to hire Anwarite when she was ready. I have spoken about this with her. I've known her for almost half of her life. She is a very impressive women, very smart, confident, and extremely hard working. She can do the ground work that I wont be able to if TEP expands to a dozen or more students.
I honestly hadn't given much thought to what you brought up in your second paragraph. At the moment the kids go to 4 different schools between the 5 of them (some schools are gendered, some students are in different grade levels). Expanding to a different village would be difficult but doable. These areas are very remote and disperse. It might be a half mile walk to your neighbors house.
You've given me some good things to think about. Thank you.
I'll promise to donate for 2 years if all things stay steady for me