SOS Children Villages

Thus a SOS Vocational school was founded offering 3 years’ courses in technical education. Because of the poor educational infrastructure in the northwest of Africa pupils even come from SOS Children Villages as far as Liberia and Sierra Leone. In addition Gambian youngsters not living in the Children Village may also attend this school. For want of good medical infrastructures in the Gambia SOS Children Villages founded an ‘SOS Mother and Child Clinic’ providing medical care and counselling especially to pregnant women and mothers with young children. In 1998/99 the SOS Vocational Training Centre for future SOS Children’s Village mothers and SOS co-workers was established as a regional SOS internal training facility
In June 1994 the street in which all SOS buildings are located was renamed ‘Hermann Gmeiner Drive High Way’ in official recognition of the effort of SOS. As in the entire northwest African region the political and economic situation of the Gambia has been unstable during many years. Time and again SOS Children Villages supported their neighbours in emergencies by building houses for impoverished families for example. Towards the end of 1998 the SOS Village of Bakoteh took up children of Bissau SOS Children Villages who had to flee their country because of war. After nine months of living in very cramped rooms the SOS families from Guinea-Bissau could return to their country. In 2004 the Gambian SOS Children Villages contributed towards the foundation of 2 community centres and the building of transit homes near Bakoteh for sexually abused girls.
At present there are an SOS Children Village in the Gambia, an SOS Youth Home, an SOS Infant School, two SOS Primary Schools, two SOS vocational training centres and an SOS medical centre.

SOS Family Strengthening Programme
In 2005, a Family strengthening programme was started in the Gambia. Its aim is to support families and communities towards self-reliance by developing their capacities to protect and care for their vulnerable children effectively.
In The Gambia, the programme focuses on 500 children under 18 from various areas of the western district, who are either orphans living in a foster family, or infected with HIV/AIDS.
Depending on the needs of the family the programme supports the children’s access to basic services (food, health and hygiene, housing and education), provides counselling for the entire family and helps the foster parents to increase their incomes by training and financial aid (e.g. micro credit). At the same SOS cooperates closely with the communities involving them in the planning and implementation of the programme and guiding them to recognise the needs of vulnerable children and find ways to meet these needs. Led by a programme coordinator the programme is implemented with the support of community volunteers and partners. 

http://www.sos-kinderdorpen.be/ en http://www.sosgambia.org/