Volunteer day with SOS Children’s Villages
Palestinian youth playing with boys in the playground of the
SOS Children's Village in West Bank city of Bethlehem, Feb 5 2013. (Photo By:
Ahmad Daghlas)
About 108 children live in this village, where they learn to
read, to write and to calculate. The first SOS Children's Village was opened in
1949 by Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian, and was built for children who lost their
parents Gmeiner envisioned a place where these children would live in an
environment as close to real family life as possible. By now, the organization
has grown to more than 420 villages in 131 countries.
SOS Children’s Villages works in more than 130 countries to support families and help children at risk grow up in a loving home. In a world filled with poverty, violence, and injustice, the greatest victims are often children. For more than 60 years, we have worked with partners in each community to either help families care for their children or to provide an alternative, for instance an SOS family, in which the love of a career is essential. Everything we do is based on the best interests of the child, and each has an individual development plan. Our work as a ‘hands on’ organization is recognized worldwide as a quality benchmark. We focus on the care, health, education and general development of each individual. Uniquely, we provide practical support over the long term, so that each child or young person can develop resilient relationships and face life’s challenges in the future. In turn, this strengthens communities and the whole of society. We also speak up on behalf of children to governments and international organizations, striving to end violations of children’s rights and improve living conditions worldwide. To do everything we do, we need the support of partners and donors to give thousands of vulnerable children a loving home and a second chance just to be a child.
Comments