SOS Children in Guinea Bissau
Guinea-Bissau, a former Portuguese colony, is on the north-west coast of Africa, on the Gulf of Guinea. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Health conditions and rates of infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy are poor even by West African standards. In addition, the country experienced a bitter civil war in the late 1990s in which thousands were killed, wounded and displaced.
SOS Children's charity began working in Guinea-Bissau in 1994 with the opening of a children's Village, a nursery and primary school in the capital city, Bissau, on land donated by the government. The village is about 3 km from the city centre in an called Missira and has eleven family houses and two youth houses, built in 2002 for the older children on the verge of becoming independent. Both the school and the nursery are open to children from the neighbourhood as well as the SOS children.
In 1998, fighting in the vicinity meant the village had to be evacuated to the charity's community in Bakoteh in The Gambia where they stayed for almost a year, before being able to return to Bissau.
During the civil war, SOS Children operated an emergency relief programme in Bissau providing families in the immediate neighbourhood and a public hospital with food, medicines and water. They also assisted with the rebuilding of houses damaged in the fighting.
An SOS social centre was established in 2003 to provide vocational training and basic medical care and health education programmes for the local community.
The charity opened a second community in Gabu, a small provincial town about 200 km east of Bissau, in 2001. The village has twelve family houses along with a nursery and a primary school for the community which were built at the same time.
See also Aids Orphan Projects in Guinea-Bissau, Africa.
Local Contacts
SOS Children in Guinea-Bissau
Fundacao das Aldeias de Criancas SOS da Guine-Bissau
PO Box 696, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Tel: +245/20 20 25 or +245 / 22 36 66
Fax: +245 / 20 20 25
e-mail: sos-no@sosbissau.org
www.sosbissau.org
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