SOS Children in Burundi
The Republic of Burundi in Central Africa is one of the continent's smallest countries and one of the world's poorest. Eight years of civil war, in which over 200,000 people lost their lives, have destroyed much of the infrastructure. Food, medicine and electricity are still in short supply. A lack of basic social services and limited economic opportunities mean most of the people are subject to continuing disease, trauma and displacement.
The charity began working in Burundi in 1977 when a village was built in Gitega, the country's third largest town. SOS Children Gitega has thirteen family houses and three youth houses where teenagers can take their first guided steps towards independent lives. There is a nursery school and a primary school which children from the surrounding area also attend. A small farm and vegetable garden provide food for the families in the village.
In 1985, the charity opened a community in the Nyakabiga district of the capital, Bujumbura, at the north-eastern end of Lake Tanganyika. It has thirteen family houses and eleven youth houses, altogether home to over 260 children and young people. Like Gitega, it has a nursery, primary and secondary school - attended by children from the local community as well as families in the SOS village. A clinic was opened in 1992 providing general medical care for the neighbourhood.
Following the outbreak of civil war in 1993, SOS Children launched an emergency aid programme in Muyinga Province, building a temporary home for children orphaned in the conflict. This emergency project was transformed in 1997 into a permanent Children's Village. SOS Children Muyinga, with its fifteen family houses and two youth houses, is just outside the town on the top of a hill called Mukoni. A few farms have been established in the area and there is a market, a hospital and a secondary school in Muyinga. Alongside the village, SOS have built a kindergarten and a primary school which serve the needs of the neighbourhood as well as the SOS families.
The fourth SOS Children’s Village opened in 2006 in Rutana in the central southern region of the country. There are 14 family houses for 170 children. In addition there is a kindergarten for 75 children in three classes and a primary school for 210 children in six classes. There is a SOS Social Centre that each month supports over 100 vulnerable children from the local communities whose families have been affected by HIV/AIDS. There is also an SOS Medical Centre that treats 1,000 patients each month.
See also Aids Orphan Projects in Burundi, Africa.
Local Contacts
SOS Children in Burundi
Villages d’Enfants SOS du Burundi, BP 2003, Bujumbura, Burundi
Tel: +257/22 36 22 or 257/22 08 86
e-mail: general@sos.bi
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