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SOS Chidren's Villages
Lack of education and limited access to primary health services meant SOS Children’s Village at Sauk opened in 1995, south of the capital Tirana. Supports children orphaned and abandoned as well as children from the local community through nursery, primary and secondary schools. 2000 saw SOS Children establish the first library in Albania for children. It offers activities to help keep children of the streets including pottery, computer technology and painting
Continent: Europe
Country: Albania
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SOS Children's Villages Bosnia
The Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina is still struggling to recover from three years of bloody inter-ethnic war during 1992-95. Around 250,000 people died in the conflict between Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs - part of the break-up of Yugoslavia.
War, poverty and the daily struggle for survival have deeply affected the traditional extended family structure. Children and young people cope with deeply traumatic experiences relating to the war and post war period. Family violence is a problem. Bosnia and Herzegovina has become a regional centre for trafficked women and girls.
The war was still in progress when the charity first began working there in 1994 with an emergency aid programme for families in Sarajevo who were caring for orphaned children. Specialised treatment was also provided for a number of deaf and dumb children, as well as children suffering from diabetes. Youth clubs, which also offered therapy and counselling, were set up to help young people, families and children cope with the traumas life in the besieged city
After the war, work began on two SOS Children's communities. SOS Children Sarajevo, built on a site provided by the city authorities in Mojmila, a residential district which was extensively damaged during the war, took in its first families in 1997. All of the children were war-affected with parents killed or missing during the war. The village has fifteen family houses, built in traditional Bosnian style and a youth house.
In 1999 the charity finished work on an SOS Social Centre close to the Children’s Village. It includes a kindergarten for sixty children and a computer centre to train young people in IT skills. English and German language classes are provided, as well as handicrafts and visual arts workshops. Around 800 children and young people are currently benefiting from the facilities. There is also an adventure playground which provides somewhere for children from the SOS Children's Village and the neighbourhood to play in safety away from the busy city streets.
In autumn 2003 the popular Play-Mobil-Project, which has been running very successfully in Albania and Romania, was introduced in Sarajevo with the aim of helping to keep children off the streets. continued
Bosnia-Herzegovina’s second SOS Children’s communuity opened in north-eastern Bosnia on a hill overlooking the town of Gracanica, about 35 km from Tuzla in 1998. SOS Children Gracania has twelve family houses built in the traditional style and a youth house for the children who have grown up in the village and are now on the verge of independence.
Other SOS projects in Bosnia-Herzegovina include the rebuilding of two kindergartens in Mostar which were destroyed in the war, one of which has now been handed over to the city authorities to run, and a kindergarten in Gorazde
Continent: Europe
Country: Bosnia
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SOS Children's Villages Belarus
Apart from one other small admin office run by another, SOS Children is the only major NGO still working in Belarus on the aftermath from Chernobyl.
Every year, over 200 children from the area around Chernobyl receive treatment for radiation damage at the SOS Social Centre, with priority given to children from very poor or single-parent families While they are being treated, their parents can stay with them and depending on the treatment this could be a period of up to eight weeks. As well as medical treatment, the centre offers remedial education and a wide range of chances for children to be children.
Belarus was severely affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Large areas were contaminated and many people, particularly children, developed cancer and other diseases related to radio-active exposure. It was for this reason that SOS Childrens Villages decided to build a village which as well as providing a home for destitute children, would also include a treatment centre for children suffering from the effects of radiation.
In 1991 the state government gave SOS Childrens Charity a plot of land in Borowljany about 15 miles north east of the capital Minsk. The village has thirteen family houses which are home to 100 children. A youth house has been established in Minsk for the older children who have grown up in the village and are on the verge of independence.
A second SOS Children's Village was opened in 2004 in Marina Gorka, about 25 miles from Minsk and consists of 12 family houses. There is also an SOS Social Centre that runs a Family Strengthening Programme for 700 vulnerable children and their families in the local community.
The present borders of Belarus date from 1939, when Stalin annexed eastern Poland. The country was occupied between 1941 and 1944, when it lost 2.2 million people, including most of its large Jewish population. It became independent in 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Despite recent economic growth, poverty remains widespread, affecting at least 30 per cent of the population particularly families with children, families with low levels of education and rural families. The average per capita daily income is less than £46.50 in the UK. The increasing number of social orphans is o of the most worrying manifestations of the social and economic crisis gripping the country. Child abandonment, neglect and abuse are all rising, with a leading cause being alcoholism among parents.
Continent: Europe
Country: Belarus
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SOS Children's Villages Republic of Congo
The fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) is one of the bloodiest conflicts the world has known since the Second World War. Families and communities have found themselves without food, water, shelter or other basic services.
In the east, the SOS Children’s Village Bukavu is home to over 150 children and a youth facility to over 50 teenagers. Vitally needed educational and medical facilities for the local community are provided through the established SOS nursery and primary school. A medical centre which treats over 9,000 patients annually.
In 1994, the village at Bukavu provided a refuge for children who had to be evacuated from the SOS Children's Gikongoro community in neighbouring Rwanda because of the civil war.
In the late 1990s, following unrest in the South Kivu region, an emergency relief programme was set up in Uvira to support children who had been abandoned. Many children were reunited with their families but the temporary village was made into a permanent SOS Children's Village providing family homes for 150 children whose parents had been killed in the fighting.
SOS Children ran another emergency relief programme in 2002 following the volcanic eruption in Gomo which left thousands homeless.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/congo.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Republic of Congo
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SOS Children's Villages Lesotho
The Kingdom of Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated 58 per cent of the population living below the poverty line. Any development in the alleviation of poverty over the past decades is being reversed by one of the most severe HIV/AIDS pandemics in the world, which is threatening the economy, delivery of social services and the entire social fabric of the country.
SOS Children has been working in Lesotho since 1992 when construction started on the SOS community in the capital, Maseru. Following political unrest and fighting between rival army factions the village finally opened in 1995, with plenty of space for the children to run around and play.
Ten family houses and four youth houses are home for children and there is a nursery which is open to local children as well. Medical and educational facilities in the area are limited and overcrowded, and so SOS has also provided a primary school and a medical centre, which sees over 1000 patients a month.
Following political unrest in1998 which led to widespread food shortages, SOS Children Maseru established an emergency relief programme, distributing food and medicines to local families.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/lesotho.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Lesotho
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SOS Children'Villages Kenya
The first SOS Children’s Village opened in the Eastlands district on the outskirts of the capital Nairobi in 1975, with sixteen family houses and fourteen youth houses. Together with a nursery, primary school and the vocational training centre which is recognised as one of the best in the country and also open to the local community. An SOS social centre here includes a community outreach programme for families and street children affected by HIV/AIDS, providing clothes, food, basic medical supplies, housing improvements and basic school fees.
SOS Children Mombasa, has twelve family houses and six youth houses, plus a nursery and primary school with capacity for 480 pupils. Each family house support’s the village self –sufficiency with fruit and vegetables together with goats, cows and geese.
SOS Children Eldoret cares for 220 children and young people and the primary school, which opened in 1989, has 22 classrooms for 700 pupils and there is a nursery for local and SOS children.
SOS Children’s Village Meru opened in 2006 about 175 miles north of Nairobi. It is home to 120 children while a nursery school is available for 100 children from the local community as well as children from the village.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/kenya.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Kenya
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SOS Chidren's Villages Guineas Bissau
Health conditions, rates of infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy are poor even by West African standards in Guinea-Bissau. A bitter civil war in the late 1990s meant thousands were killed, wounded and displaced.
SOS Children began working here in 1994 opening a children's Village, a nursery and primary school in the capital city, Bissau. Supporting over 100 children at the unique SOS Children’s Village it also has youth houses helping older children gain independence.
SOS Children operated an emergency relief programme in Bissau, during fighting in 1998, providing families in the immediate neighbourhood and a public hospital with food, medicines and water. We also assisted with the rebuilding of houses damaged in the fighting.
An SOS social centre was established in 2003 to provide vocational training and basic medical care and health education programmes for the local community.
SOS Children opened a second community in Gabu, a small town east of Bissau, in 2001. The village has twelve family houses along with a nursery and a primary school for the community which were built at the same time.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/guinea-bissau.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Guinea Bissau
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SOS Children's Villages Guinea
Guinea in south-west Africa is among the poorest countries on the African continent, with very weak human resources and low social development. School enrolment rates are low for boys and girls and adult illiteracy remains high. Maternal mortality is among the highest in the world and HIV infection is increasing. Under-five mortality is declining, it remains high and diarrhoea, malaria and acute respiratory infections persist as major causes.
The SOS Children's Village Conakry opened in 1989 with eleven family houses and the school and the nursery became operational a year later, taking in children from the neighbourhood as well as the SOS children and in 1995, a youth house was established.
SOS Children built a second community at N’Zérékoré in south-eastern Guinea in 2001 with ten family houses plus a nursery and primary school serving the community.
Over the years, SOS Children has carried out various community outreach programmes, including the provision of shelter and food for children and staff evacuated from our community in neighbouring Guinea-Bissau.
A third village, together with a nursery and a primary school, opened in Kankan, the country's second biggest city, east of Conakry in 2005, which is home to 120 children.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/guinea.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Guinea
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SOS Children's Villages Ghana
Malaria, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, malnutrition and measles remain the five leading killer diseases of children in Ghana, but infant and under-five mortality rates are declining.
There are two SOS Children's communities in Ghana. The first at Tema opened in 1971 and the second in Asiakwa, north of Accra, opened in 1990. These care for over 200 children in special family homes with SOS mothers.
Over 1,200 children have access to education through nursery, primary schools as well as vocational training for older girls.
An International College at Tema, established in 1990, offers courses leading to the International Baccalaureate and IGCSE to SOS children from all over Africa, as well as non-SOS Ghanaian children. Many students go on to university in Europe and the USA as well as Africa.
Both villages have medical centres which between them treat over 2000 patients a year.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/ghana.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Ghana
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SOS Children's Villages Gambia
SOS Children established and SOS Children’s Village in 1992 at Bakoteh, about 15kms from the capital, Banjul. This is home to about 100 children and the SOS nursery school is used additionally by local children, and the primary school is now run by the national education authority.
A technical high school gives children from both the SOS Children's community and the surrounding area opportunities to obtain a school leaving certificate. Vocational and technical training is also offered in agriculture, textiles and construction. With 28 classrooms, 600 pupils benefit from laboratories and workshops including metal working, carpentry, car mechanics, vehicle body repairs and dressmaking and also operates as a production and service unit supplying the general public.
Lack of medical facilities locally led to the establishment of an SOS Mother and Child Clinic in 1997 as well as an outpatients' department and pharmacy. Preventive medicine, diagnosis and treatment are carried out using the latest equipment and with highly-trained staff. Around 6,000 people are served locally together with children living at the SOS Children’s Village.
A second at Basse in the east of the country is due to open late in 2007. There will be 12 family homes plus an SOS Nursery School together with an SOS Primary School for over 400 children from the village and local community.
http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/sponsor-a-child/africa-child-sponsorship/gambia.htm
Continent: Africa
Country: Gambia
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