SOS Children in Croatia
Croatia is part of the former Yugoslavia. An independent state since 1991, it was one of the most prosperous and well developed of the republics before the dissolution of Yugoslavia. However the civil war which broke out in 1991 plunged the country into crisis. There are still some 33,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Croatia, as well as 22,000 refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Landmines and weapons continue to endanger the population and present an obstacle for the safe return of refugees and IDPs, with around one million mines and unexploded ordnance strewn over nearly 11 per cent of the country's territory
The charity opened its first Croatian community in 1993 in Lekenik, a small rural community 25 km southeast of Zagreb. It has fifteen family houses. The SOS kindergarten and social centre went into operation in 1996, by which time it was necessary to provide accommodation for the older children, so an SOS youth facility was established in Zagreb where they can start to lead independent lives.
SOS Children Ladimirevci was opened by the charity in 1995. Ladimirevci is an ancient village in Eastern Croatia about 20 km from Osijek, in a region of thick forest and rivers. It is an area that was extensively destroyed during the war and many of the children are war orphans. The sixteen family houses, built in typical Slavonic style, are home to over one hundred children. They attend the local schools including the new elementary school in Ladimirevci where a number of the classrooms and the sports hall were financed by SOS Children’s Villages.
Other projects run by SOS Children in Croatia have included various emergency aid and outreach programmes for refugees, particularly women and children. In 1999 SOS Children built a new kindergarten in Vukovar which has places for over eighty children.
Local Contact
SOS Children in Croatia
SOS-Djecje selo Hrvatska, Ul.Kralja Drzislava 3/11, HR-10000 Zagreb, Croatia
tel+385/1/461 00 67 e-mail sosdjse-hr@zg.tel.hr
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