Six Villages for 2006 : Mexico
20/02/2006
SOS Children's Village in Morelia, Mexico
Street children and children who have to work hard from an early age onwards are an every-day sight in Mexico. Approximately 24 million Mexicans live in extreme poverty. Some 43.5 per cent of the population of Mexico are children under the age of 18. Due to poverty, many children migrate, with or without their families, within rural areas, from rural to urban areas, where they forage as street children, with no one to care.
The new SOS Children's Village, which is being built for children with no one to care for them, will be in north-west Morelia, the capital of the western federal state of Michoacán. The grounds for the "World Cup Village" were donated by the government, since the people responsible there saw the need for providing such vital care.
The SOS Children's Village in Morelia can take in 108 children in twelve family houses. In addition, a social centre is being planned which will offer shelter, counselling and help to around 300 young people from the vicinity.
Relevant Countries: Mexico.