SOS Children in Tanzania
Tanzania is the largest country in East Africa. It is world famous for the Serengeti National Park with its enormous variety and abundance of game species, the great African lakes such as Victoria and Tanganyika and Africa's highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.
The United Republic of Tanzania is one of the few countries in the conflict-ridden Great Lakes Region that continues to enjoy uninterrupted peace, but its socio-economic development is being threated by HIV/AIDS. The number of orphans due to the epidemic is estimated at almost two million. The quality of education and health care remains low. Over three million seven to 13-year-olds are not in school and intake and transition rates are very low. One in six children die before their fifth birthday.
The charity began working in Tanzania in 1988 with the construction of a community on the island of Zanzibar, south-east of Zanzibar Town near the airport in a newly developed residential district. Eleven family houses provide a home for 120 children and there are three youth houses, one in the village and two in Zanzibar, for older children and young people taking their first guided steps towards independence. An SOS school (primary and secondary) provides for the children's educational needs as well as those of children in the local community. The charity has also built a nursery and a health care centre which caters for the local population as well as the families in the SOS community. With its sports fields and mosque, the SOS Children's site has become a real neighbourhood centre.
In 2000 the second SOS Children's Village in Tanzania opened in Arusha, a major town in northern mainland Tanzania. SOS Children's Village Arusha is about 13 km from the town centre, on the Nairobi Road, in the Ngarmantoni urban area. The village has ten family houses, a nursery school, and a school for both primary and secondary pupils. A third Children’s Village opened in Dar Es Salaam in 2006. There are 13 family houses for 130 children and a SOS Nursery School for 100 children. This includes a classroom for children with special needs.
See also Aids Orphan Projects in Tanzania, Africa
Local Contacts
SOS Children in Tanzania
SOS Children's Village of Tanzania Trust, PO Box 13196, Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: +255/27 250 53 57
Fax: +255/2505358
e-mail: sos-arusha@habari.co.tz
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