SOS Kinderdorf International

(SOS Children’s Villages)

This is an aid to help the children in Africa. The main aims are:

ü      We build families for children in need.

ü      We help them shape their own futures.

ü     We share in the development of their communities

SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental and social development organization, which has been active in the field of children's needs, concerns and rights since 1949. Its activities focus on neglected and abandoned children and orphans, as well as disadvantaged families.

If a child cannot stay with his/her biological family, his/her right to care, protection and equal opportunities should still be guaranteed. This is the basic principle according to which SOS Children's Villages carries out its activities in 132 countries and territories. SOS Children's Villages makes it possible for children to be part of a family once again by providing family-based care.

Children are taken into an SOS Children's Village if it is likely or certain that they will not be able to return to their biological families. In many cases, preventive care to support and stabilise families in times of crisis can mean that families do not break up, and the threat of the child being uprooted can be contained. This is why, in addition to SOS Children's Villages, there are various "family strengthening" programmes and facilities, which offer targeted promotion, support and advice for socially and economically disadvantaged families at risk of living in poverty.

SOS Children's Villages' commitment to bringing up the children in its care to the best of its ability until they are young adults requires additional investment in many regions of the world, not just to provide for the children's emotional stability, but also to prepare them thoroughly for independence. Kindergartens, schools and vocational training are an essential part of this. All educational and vocational training facilities are open to the public.

In addition to providing care for children and young people, running family strengthening programmes and providing vocational training, SOS Children's Villages caters for the people's basic health care through medical centres in many different locations. The centres are designed for educational and preventive purposes, particularly as regards the fight against AIDS and to teach people how best to care for their children and their children's health

If facilities currently exist or if there is an established network, SOS Children's Villages can provide immediate relief if a crisis, war or disaster occurs. This relief ranges from creating emergency clinics, temporary food provision centres and emergency shelters to distributing relief supplies and carrying out reconstruction work. Children and their families are the target group of the emergency relief programmes. Since SOS Children's Villages seeks to stabilise families on a long-term basis, emergency relief often leads on to the creation of permanent facilities, such as SOS Children's Villages and/or other social facilities.

How Do They Help

SOS Children’s Villages have 8 different ways in which they are able to help:

1.     SOS Childrens Villages

2.     SOS Youth Facilities

3.     SOS Kindergartens

4.     SOS Vocational Training Centres

5.     SOS Social Centers

6.     SOS Medical Centres

7.     SOS Emergency Relief Programmes

8.   SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools

They also have ways of which the public can help too!

If you log on to their website (http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org) you can:

Ø      Sponsor A Child

Ø      Sponsor A Village

You can also make an online donation to help the children in need.

Michael McGregor