SOS Children in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Poverty is widespread and the number of abandoned children is extremely high due to years of political unrest and natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods which are a frequent occurrence. A third of children never attend school and the illiteracy rate is around 52 per cent.
The first community built by our charity opened in Dhaka in 1973. It has 15 family houses and two youth houses, as well as a nursery and a social centre which provides community education. A small mosque has been built as most of the children are Muslim. Primary and secondary education is provided by the SOS school which is ranked among the top schools in Bangladesh, taking in over 1,000 pupils from the local community. We also run two SOS training centres: one for young adults where they can learn car mechanics, carpentry, and electrical and mechanical engineering, and one to train new SOS mothers and staff.
The SOS Children community Rajshahi is close to the Indian border in western Bangladesh. Many of the children are severely undernourished when they come here, and need special care at the village's medical centre before joining their new SOS families. The village has fifteen family houses and eight youth houses. All the children attend local schools. An SOS Vocational Training Centre provides agricultural training for 32 young people. A small social centre offers health counselling and training workshops to over 440 children and adults in the community.
SOS Children's Khulna site is in the Ganges Delta. The village has sixteen family houses for 160 children, two youth houses, and a nursery and a school, which provides both primary and secondary education. Both are open to children from the local community, who are also helped by the SOS clinic and day-care centre, which provides medical treatment and a safe place for local mothers on low incomes to leave their children while they work.
Severe flooding in 1986, in which over 50,000 people died, led to our charity constructing a fourth children's village in Chittagong, the second largest city in Bangladesh. Virtually in the city centre, the village also has a primary school,a nursery school and a vocational training centre, as well as a social centre and clinic. The centre and clinic provide medical care and a feeding programme for local people, as well as day care facilities for working mothers. After a cyclone in 1991, part of the social centre was adapted as a cyclone shelter for local people and the SOS Children families.
The charity's Bogra Village opened in 1995. About 225 km north-west of Dhaka, it is close to the historically famous site of Mahastangarh. The village has ten family houses and a youth house, as well as a nursery and primary/secondary school. A social centre and clinic provide day care facilities and medical treatment for local people.
At present we support over 7,600 people in Bangladesh through five SOS Children's Villages, five SOS Youth Homes, five SOS Nursery Schools, four SOS Schools, four SOS Vocational Training Centres and four SOS Social Centres.
Five-year-olds Debesh and Gobinda from SOS Children's Village Dhaka are busy identical twin brothers. The little ones are always bubbling with energy and are full of life. Their free, fluent movement expresses that they feel happy to have a secure home with lots of siblings and a warm, affectionate mother. All the time the brothers are smiling and playing. Their noisy activities can be seen and heard all around the Village. Debesh is very talkative and curious to know everything, "what are you doing mama?", "what is the colour of my shirt?", "where did you buy the apples from?" His SOS mother Patralika patiently answers all his queries. Gobinda’s queries are a little less. He likes to spend more time with his battery-operated toy motorbike. “You’d better be careful and not get in his way," says Patralika, “no matter what he won't stop!”
Country Map
Local contacts
SOS Children's Village International in Bangladesh (associated)
1, Shamoli, Mirpur Road
Dhaka - 1207
Postal address: G.P.O.Box 546
Dhaka - 1000
Bangladesh
Tel +88/02/81 14058, +88/02/81 18189
Fax +88/02/81 13217
e-mail: national.office@sos-bangladesh.org
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