SOS Children in Togo
Togo is in West Africa between Ghana and Benin. The country's economic and political crisis in the early 1990s resulted in the suspension of nearly all foreign assistance, which impacted severely on the social sectors. Currently 39 per cent of all school-age girls are not enrolled or have dropped out of school. Of those girls who drop out of primary school, many end up as domestic workers or become the victims of child trafficking. Eighty-five per cent of the population is employed in agriculture, mostly subsistence level farming, yet food production is insufficient for the country's needs due to obsolete farming methods and a lack of water, especially in the north. Diseases such as dysentery and malaria are widespread, a result of poor living conditions and a shortage of clean drinking water combined with a lack of medical care.
The charity began its work in Togo during the seventies when the first SOS Children's Village was built in the capital, Lomé. The village, in the Tokoin-Wuiti district in the northern part of the river delta, has nine family houses and a youth house for the older children. As usual, SOS Children has also built a nursery where the majority of the children attending are from the local community, all of whom are given a daily meal. Kitchen gardens provide fruit and vegetables for the SOS families.
The charity's second Togo Village is in Lama-Kara, a small but rapidly developing town in a remote area of northern Togo. As well as the ten family houses and a youth house, Kara has a nursery and a primary school, both attended by local children. The SOS mother and child clinic, which is open daily, provides basic medical care and feeding programmes for undernourished and sick babies. Courses on infant care and nutrition are organised on a regular basis.
SOS Children's Kara communuity also has its own farm where sheep, pigs and poultry are raised and fruit and vegetables grown. As well as providing for the village's needs, the farm provides agricultural training for the older children who also use the farm products in a restaurant run by them as part of a vocational training scheme.
In 1994, SOS Children's Villages established a community aid programme to support families in the area around Kara, which included assistance with house building, education and business development. In 2004 a second SOS Social Centre was opened to provide further support to the local community aid with particular focus on vulnerable children and their families affected by HIV/AIDS.
A third SOS Children’s Village will be built in the north of Togo at Dapaong. There will be twelve family homes, a nursery school, primary school and a medical centre.
See also Aids Orphan Projects in Togo, Africa
Local Contacts
SOS Children in Togo
Association des Villages d'Enfants SOS au Togo, Rue Kiwadjoi 112, rue Tokoin Wuiti, BP 1394, Lomé
Tel: +228/2/26 01 06
Fax: +228/2/26 01 06
e-mail: bnctogo@cafe.tg
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