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By
Billie Ann Lopez
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In summer 1999,
two teenagers from Guinea, Yaguine Koita, 14, and Fodé
Tounkara, 15, died in the landing gear compartment of a Belgian
airliner heading for Europe. A note found on their clothing appealed
for help-help for themselves and for all the children of Africa
suffering from hunger, disease, poverty and the consequences of war.
It was addressed to "Excellent Sirs, members and responsibles of
Europe" and said "We want to study, and we ask you to help
us study so that in Africa we can be like you." (International
Herald Tribune, Friday, 13th August, 1999)
FIFTY-FOUR
YEARS AGO, Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian medical student, made that
same appeal for destitute children everywhere. His dream was to
provide these children with new mothers, brothers and sisters, and
their own homes, all within caring communities. Mothers, siblings,
homes, and caring communities have been the basic tenets of Gmeiner's SOS-Kinderdorf
International (SOS Children's Villages International) philosophy
from its inception.
To pursue his
dream, Gmeiner and his friends pooled their resources and, in 1949,
built five homes in Imst in the Austrian Alps to care for 40
children, thus creating the first SOS-Kinderdorf. By 1952, Gmeiner
had 15,000 friends, each contributing one schilling a month (worth
about four U.S. cents at the time). By 1959, those 15,000 had grown
to one million supporters who, through their small steady donations,
had built ten villages filled with homes to care for a thousand
children. And, since they opened their first village in Daegu, Korea,
in 1963, the growth of SOS-Kinderdorf outside Europe has been equally rapid.
SOME
ASTONISHING NUMBERS Today, there are 423 SOS Children's Villages and
320 SOS Youth Homes in 131 different countries, providing homes for
over 49,000 children and teenagers. Altogether, 1,539 SOS Children's
Villages, youth homes, kindergartens, schools, vocational training
programmes, medical clinics, and emergency aid programmes serve
hundreds of thousands of people worldwide.
SOS CHILDREN'S
VILLAGES are made up of 12 to 15 family homes and headed by a Village
Director. Female staff provide full support for the SOS mothers and
children, while their male colleagues are specifically trained to
ensure that the children receive plenty of positive adult male
contact and interaction.
AN SOS MOTHER
is a specially trained woman who provides long-term care for five to
ten boys and girls of different ages. She has the same
responsibilities as mothers everywhere, providing her children with
the love and guidance growing children need, helping with homework,
doing the shopping and cooking, managing the budget, and other
household tasks.
SOS CHILDREN
today are not always orphaned or abandoned. Many come from broken
families, and many have suffered from neglect or abuse.
SOS-Kinderdorf care for all of its children, preparing them to become
productive, self-reliant adults.
SOS FAMILY
HOUSES are designed to be similar to average homes in the particular
culture and country, and aim to promote family life. Hermann Gmeiner
strongly believed that children should live in beautiful
environments, and these are ultimately what SOS homes try to provide. |
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ADDITIONAL SOS
FACILITIES In Europe and other industrialized countries, SOS
children attend local schools and have access to community and public
facilities. However, in many developing countries, community services
are limited or non-existent. If necessary, when SOS-Kinderdorf sets
up new villages, it also builds kindergartens, elementary and high
schools, youth centres, and medical clinics. Today, 19,500 children
attend 245 SOS kindergartens worldwide. There are 166 SOS schools,
both primary and secondary, offering a good education to 73,500
children and adolescents; 131 vocational training centers help
provide 14,460 young people with the skills they need to work in a
wide range of trades, services and manufacturing industries. There
are also SOS colleges in Ghana and Costa Rica.
SOS auxiliary
facilities are open to local families. This policy contributes to SOS
children being well-integrated into their local communities, and
means that the SOS-Kinderdorf presence is highly valued. It is
estimated that, on average, each SOS-Kinderdorf benefits an
additional 500 to 1,000 local families.
SOS HERMANN
GMEINER MEDICAL CENTRES, now numbering 55, provide basic medical care
usually in areas lacking such facilities. They offer pre-natal care
to local women, vaccination programmes, medical check-ups, and other
out-patient medical treatment as well as courses on subjects like
AIDS prevention, nutrition, and health care issues to over 300,000 people.
SOS EMERGENCY
DISASTER RELIEF Because of its on-site presence and years of
hands-on experience, it can offer immediate assistance to communities
at times of natural disaster and war. Following Hurricane Mitch in
Nicaragua, the earthquake in Latur, India, civil wars in Rwanda, Sri
Lanka, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania
during the Kosovo war, SOS was able to offer food and shelter for
many thousands of refugees. The SOS Emergency Clinic in Mogadishu in
Somalia provides an additional 300,000 annual check-ups and treatments.
SOS FRIENDS
were essential to Hermann Gmeiner's dream of providing stable homes
and futures for hundreds of thousands of children and young people.
Hermann Gmeiner, who died in 1986, believed that SOS-Kinderdorf
International's work also provided opportunities for the world's
citizenry to do good. Beginning with Gmeiner himself, the SOS
language of enthusiasm and commitment continues to reach across all
national and linguistic barriers to achieve a common good: the care
of the world's children in need.
The supporting
friends of SOS-Kinderdorf number over six million. Their regular
donations, large and small, help provide the basis for the long-term
care of SOS children, while the fundraising activities of SOS
Promoting and Supporting Associations in Austria, France, Germany,
the United Kingdom and 12 other European countries, as well as the US
and Canada, finance the major part of SOS-Kinderdorf worldwide.
SOS-Kinderdorf
SUCCESS stories now span 52 years. The foundation has made a
difference-a big difference-to the lives of hundreds of thousands of
children and young people. Both Helmut Kutin, President of
SOS-Kinderdorf International and Richard Pichler, Secretary General,
were raised in Austrian SOS Children's Villages. They bring to their
work a special understanding of what a second chance truly means to
children growing up in SOS Children's Villages everywhere.
To Suzette
Crawford, who was two months old when she joined her nine SOS
brothers and sisters in their SOS Children's Village home in Barret
Town, Jamaica, it meant becoming its first college graduate. To
eight-year-old xylophone virtuoso QiQi, who spent a year in hospital
before joining his SOS family in Tianjin, China, it has meant
pursuing his love for music. QiQi, whose name means
"Seven-Seven" in Chinese, received his name because his was
the seventh bed in the hospital; he then became the seventh child in
his SOS family. QiQi has performed in over 200 concerts in several countries.
And to brothers
Johnnie and Sagaria who, with their little sisters, arrived
separately at their SOS Children's Village home in Ennersdale, South
Africa, the experience has made them inseparable. In 1998, they
completed their apprenticesip together as cooks in the SOS Vocational
Training Center in Baumgartsbrunn, Namibia.
As for German
Calderon Espinoza, nine years old when he arrived at an SOS
Children's Village in Estelí, Nicaragua, the second chance he
got meant being able to pursue his dream, of becoming a doctor. After
graduating, German opened a small clinic caring for the local people
and all the SOS children in his SOS Children's Village.
Hermann Gmeiner
once said "The good in the world happens when someone does more
than they have to." Yaguine Koita and Fodé Tounkara died
in their quest for a better life; but their appeal for help is
embodied in the work of SOS-Kinderdorf International. If you would
like further information, please contact:
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SOS-Kinderdorf International
Hermann-Gmeiner-Str.
51,
PO Box 443
A-6021 Innsbruck, Austria |
Tel: +43 512 3310-0
Fax: +43 512
3310 27.
Email: com@sos-kd.org
Website: http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org |
Click
on photos for larger view and location information. |
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