Sponsor's update from Kara
12/06/2007
Update from the SOS Children's Village Kara, May 2007
Dear Godmothers, dear Godfathers, dear Friends,
Like every year in summer, it is again a real pleasure for us this year to inform you about all the events and news from the institution you have been sponsoring for 28 years.
First of all, mind allowing us to express to you our profound gratitude for being attentive to our children. Thank you for this sentiment of generosity and love.
Life in the SOS Children’s Village Kara was marked by the registration of new children, the training of staff in order improve pedagogical supervision activities to always make the reception conditions of children and youngsters more reassuring every day.
Owing to your support, SOS Children’s Village Kara that can shelter 100 children is presently offering accommodation to 92 children, that is 45 girls and 47 boys.
Admission
A family living environment with a mother, brothers and sisters and a house are provided for many children at VESOS Kara; they are a family of two motherless little girls (Pimiète and Bidè), another family of two little girls (Esther and Pierrette) whose mother is dead and the father jailed, triplets (Luc, Lucien and Lucie) whose father has no regular income and the mother visually handicapped, and an 8-year old fatherless and motherless young girl named Yvette.
Family life
End-of-year feasts like Christmas meant mostly for children were joyfully celebrated at VESOS. So, on December 24, 2006 a mass was celebrated on the esplanade of the Children’s Village; then after, the children of the Village and other children from the surroundings of the VESOS were presented with presents. On Christmas day Radio Kara participated in the celebration by broadcasting live from the Village the dinner organized for the children.
Academic Activities
Globally, the 1st and 2nd term school results for primary and secondary schools pupils are satisfactory; the pass rate is 70.5%.
Training sessions
Within the framework of the training of the mothers and aunts recruited for the new village of Dapaong, a practical training session was organized at VESOS Lome from March 13, to 29 and at VESOS Kara from March 30, to April 14, 2007. The Instructor for young girls living in organized house took part in a sub-regional meeting at Abomey-Calavi to reinforce her knowledge in Sex Education to impart to our youngsters.
Youngsters
In the communities of young girls and boys, the 1st and 2nd term school results are fair. On February 3, 2007, the Instructor for young girls in community exhorted the young girls in community and their friends to be more serious at school; she expressed her best New Year wishes to them. One of the young girls called Sahalètou was pre-selected for the French Speaking World competitive examinations.
In the community of young boys, Amanou took part in two inter-school recital competitive examinations at Kara and Bafilo where he ranked 2nd and 5th successively. The Youth Instructor trains a group of children in games linked with therapy as recommended by the psychologist. On December 24, 2006, the group organized a show of sketches and poems at the VESOS.
One the young girls from the Youth Unit living in houses completed her training in Secretarial work; she is presently on course at the Public Work Department at Kara. Three (03) other girls are being trained in hairdressing, aesthetics, hotel management and nursing at the National Training School.
A young boy from the Young Unit living in community named Massamesso is transferred to Lome to be trained to sit for a Vocational Training Certificate. The other youngsters are still studying at college and high schools; two are about to be semi-independent.
Visits - Donations
To support the action of SOS Children’s Villages, many persons or groups of persons among which “Foire Internationale” and Jeunesse en Mouvement” visited the village and presented the children with presents; all came about in a festive mood.
SOS Primary School of Kara
In order to stick to its position as a school of reference as regards organization and primary education, the school resumed its activities on December 29, 2006 by putting in place classroom committees to give pupils a sense of responsibility, by electing 10 members on the school board. Then, in October, two teaching advisors came over to verify and harmonise the training courses in science; Dan Collberg, a Swede on visit in Togo in the context of the implementation of Children’s Rights Convention in schools also paid a visit to the village. In order to initiate our children to computing, six teachers were given a refresher course.
Mother and Child Health Care Centre of Kara (PMI-SOS)
Apart from the humanitarian mission of Belgians that came about from October 21, to November 3, 2006, the PMI centre registered many other events which were equally important as the reception of donations in kind, batches of medical equipment and consumable goods, mosquito nets donated by the Prefectoral Director of Health, blouses from the NGO Humanitarian Togo. The number of patients always increases everyday and up to date, nine thousand (9000) persons benefit monthly from the care the centre offers. That is the reason why the medical doctor and his staff regularly have training in order to meet all the needs. Thus, the laboratory technician, the medical assistant, the nurses, the midwives and the medical doctor participated in training in avian influenza, in a vaccination campaign against yellow fever and the use of catheters in intravenous care. The General Director of Health also paid an informal visit to the centre. The centre also participated in many vaccination campaigns. Besides, it updated its partnership project with UNICEF Togo.
SOS Social Centre for Development and Human Promotion (CSDPH-SOS)
As the years go by, the number of beneficiaries of the centre increases. So, as usual, the centre provided beneficiaries with support and counselling in many fields, for instance, in processing children’s birth certificate, apprenticeship contracts for youngsters, in offering loans to women for their income generating activities, in distributing clothes and toys to children. The Social Centre still continues its training sessions and education chats on Children’s Rights, family planning, cookery, provoked abortion and in how to make ones life and studies successful. As for the Communication Centre, the library gives motivation to youngsters in many domains like reading, exchange of knowledge; it sensitises on the great diseases that are snapping the life of youngsters. The videos library shows cartoons and other education films to children and youngsters. The computer room always registers a great number of internet users and youngsters who come over for initiation to computing.
Dear Godmothers, dear Godfathers and dear Friends, this is a brief summary of the news from SOS Children’s Village of Kara. We thank you for your assistance and generosity and wish you a good Easter celebration.
Child sponsorship update from Lome
Update from May 2007 on the SOS Children's Village Lome
Like every year in summer, it is again a real pleasure for us this year to inform you about all the events and news from the institution you have been sponsoring for 28 years.
First of all, mind allowing us to express to you our profound gratitude for being attentive to our children. Thank you for this sentiment of generosity and love.
Life in the SOS Children’s Village Lome was marked by the registration of new children, the training of staff in order improve pedagogical supervision activities to always make the reception conditions of children and youngsters more reassuring every day.
Owing to your support, SOS Children’s Village Lome that can shelter 90 children is presently offering accommodation to 87 children, that is, 41 girls and 46 boys.
Admission
Since February 2, the village has offered a 13-month old little girl a family environment. She is called Valentina and is living in House 8.
Community life
The spiritual life in the village was marked by a celebration given to a dozen of children who made their first communion during the Easter mass at Saint Rita Catholic Parish of the area. A little feast was organised at the village to celebrate the event.
Vesos Lomé hosted its first Peace World Games on September 30, 2006. it was a day when youngsters played basketball matches in a joyful and convivial atmosphere. The tone of the day was set by the Director of the Village in a welcome address to teams and supporters; he was followed by the National Director who delivered the message of Mr Adolf Ogi, the Special Advisor of the United Nations Organisation in charge of sports for development and Peace. She pointed out values like solidarity, competitiveness, non-violence and friendship that sports teach in order to be able to accommodate oneself with all aspects of life.
Academic activities
The 1st term school results are global satisfactory. At the primary school, the pass rate is 83.33% and at the secondary level, it is 78.26% that is, an average of 81.69%. The children who meet difficulties have been assisted through specialised class sessions since January 7th.
Training
Many meetings, training sessions, training workshops and seminars permitted the staff of the villages to reinforce their capacities in caring for children. Thus, the Village Director and the National Educational Advisor participated in a workshop on the self-evaluation of the CVM at Calavi in Benin from October 8, to 16, 2006. From November 2 to 10, a first training was given to new collaborators in order to prepare them for their new occupation. To debate education problems of children and youngsters, a education meeting was held from November 13th to 15th. Then, the Youth Instructors, the Social Workers and the Directors of te Villages took part in a national training for Instructors in “Sex Education” at Kpalime from November 28, to December 2, and from December 4, to 6, 2006 in a training in the new Sponsorship Manual. From March 12 to 15, 2007 the mothers were also trained in “Sex Education” during their annual training in order to get prepared to better grasp the problems related to sex education of their children.
Youngsters
The youngsters living in natural families are 19 in number including 11 university students. The Youth Instructor reinforces their follow-up to improve their school results. Two youngsters are studying respectively Industrial Arts and Design, and languages in Ghana, a neighbouring country. Yaou who was having training at CESAG (African Centre for Higher Studies of Management) at Dakar in Senegal returned home for practical course. He is looking for a job to acquire his independence. Likewise with Yaou, five of his brothers have an employment and have, therefore, joined the group of independent youngsters. One of our youngsters (Koudjo) migrated to USA in February 2007 owing to Lottery Visa after he had defended his Vocational Training Certificate for Accountancy dissertation.
A young girl in family named Chrystelle has entered her 2nd year of training in Social Welfare this year after a first cycle of three years. Another young girl in family called Koudjouka defended her Vocational Training Certificate for Commercial Studies dissertation in March 2007.
The young girls in community celebrated Christmas and the New Year Eve in the community but on January 1, they entertained themselves in the afternoon at a beach of Lomé (Avepozo).
The young girls in community and those who are in natural families had a socio-educative trip to a beach of Lome on March 10, 2007; it was an opportunity for them to exchange wishes and identify their objectives for the year 2007. The youngsters in natural families and in the community of young boys and girls of Lome had fair first term school results.
Family Reinforcement Programme
The Family Reinforcement Programme continues its activities by providing families with assistance through access to essential services like caring for food (distribution of food kits), for health, for education, and social and psychological life.
To reinforce his own capacities and those of volunteers and Communication Intermediaries, the Coordinator of the Programme participated in, and organised many training sessions. So, from October 13 to 18, 2006, he took part in a continental workshop on Strategic Initiative 2 at Nairobi in Kenya. He also participated in a regional workshop on IS2 held at Kigali in Rwanda from November 6, to 11, 2006. Following these sessions, the Coordinator organized an assessment workshop of the 2006 fiscal year; this was followed by a training of the technical staff of the SOS Social Centre of Kara, of volunteers from Lome and Heads of Communication Intermediaries of Kara at Kpalime in Togo.
Visits Donations
During the end-of-year feasts, and apart from the Christmas Eve celebration organised by Rotaract Club, the children of the village took part in many celebrations during which they shared meals with others, danced, received presents from charity associations and organised groups. Vesos also registered many other visitors like members of the diplomatic and consular representations, friends and sympathisers, and associations; they all came over to support the action of SOS Children’s Villages through donations in kind and cash.
Relevant Countries: Togo.