SOS Children in India
India is the second most populous country in the world. Acceleration in economic growth has made India among the world's ten fastest growing developing countries. Yet, the country's per capita income remains low and 26 per cent of the population live below the income poverty line. Forty seven per cent of children under three years of age are malnourished. There continues to be high incidence of child labour and out-of-school children, girls remaining particularly disadvantaged. Although the caste system has been officially abolished, religious and social barriers still influence everyday life.
SOS Children began working in India in 1963. Today there are 32 communities, seven of which are for Tibetan refugee children. As well as the communities where over 3000 once-destitute children now have a permanent family home, over fifty SOS welfare, educational and medical facilities also provide assistance for people in the wider community.
SOS Children in India
The charity built a community at Ahmedabat in 1981 in the grounds of the Shreyas Foundation in the capital of the state of Gujurat. There are Four family houses; the SOS children attend the Shreyas schools.
The charity has a community in Alwaye-Cochin, in the south-western state of Kerala, near to the SOS CV Trichur and 25 km from Alwaye. There are 15 family houses, three youth houses and a nursery school.
The SOS Children's Village in Bangalore was built in 1989. The 16 semi-detached family houses are each home to ten children and their SOS mothers. There is a youth house and a nursery school for 100 children.
The SOS Children's Village in Bawana in on the outskirts of Bawana, a rapidly growing town about 30 km north of Delhi. There are 20 family houses, a youth house and a nursery school. Large roofed-over areas serve as playgrounds during the rainy season, and as sleeping areas during the hot weather.
The SOS Children's Village in Bhakatpara is about 15 km from Mangaldoi in the north-eastern state of Assam. The village has 14 family houses, three youth houses and a nursery school.
Bhimtal is in the foothills of the Himalayas, about 300km north of New Delhi. The name comes from the lake on which it is located (Bhim means big; tal, lake). The SOS Children's Village in Bhimtal has 12 family houses, a youth house, nursery school, a secondary school for 750 children and a health centre. Bhimtal is also a holiday camp for children from other SOS Children's Villages in India.
The SOS community in Bhopal was built following the 1984 poison-gas disaster in Bhopal in which many children were orphaned, about 8 km from the city centre. The village has 16 family houses, two youth houses and a primary school.
The SOS community in Bhubaneshwar is situated in eastern India on the shores of the Bay of Bengal in the capital of the state of Orissa. The village is made up of 15 family houses, a youth house and a nursery school.
The charity built the SOS community in Bhuj following an SOS emergency relief programme after the earthquake in Gujurar in 2001. The village opened in 2003. There are 14 family houses and a nursery school.
The charity built a community in Chennai (Madras), about 5kms from the centre of Madras, one of India's largest cities. The village has 15 family houses built in regional style with rooms grouped round an inner courtyard, and a youth house. Mango and palm trees provide shade during the hot season. There is a nursery school and a primary school as well as a medical centre which treats 30,000 patients a year.
SOS community in Faridabad has five family houses and four youth houses. Faridabad serves as an SOS mothers' training centre for all SOS mothers in India. An SOS school teaches 1400 pre-school, primary and secondary pupils from the local community, and there is also a vocational training centre.
The first community our charity built in India was Greenfields, built in 1968, on the outskirts of New Delhi on the main road to Mathura. There are 20 family houses and two youth houses and a social centre providing day care, counselling, vocational training and community outreach health programmes.
Guwahati is in Assam, in the town of Guwahati, surrounded by paddy fields. This community has 16 family houses and three youth houses.
Hojai is one of the three SOS Children's communities in Assam. With 20 family houses and five youth houses, altogether home to 300 children and young people.
The charity opened a Hyderabad centre in 2003 following an SOS Emergency Relief Programme for children sold for adoption in the area. Now the SOS village in Hyderabad has 15 family houses and a nursery school for 60 children.
The residential area of Jaipur, is a popular tourist centre known as the 'rose coloured city'. Social problems are immense due to the city's rapid growth in recent years. The SOS Children's village in Jaipur has 14 family houses built in the traditional regional style with flat roofs used as sleeping areas during the hot weather.
Jammu is on the outskirts of the old temple city of Jammu, in an area where SOS Children has run several emergency aid programmes following violent clashes between Muslims and Hindus. The Jammu community has 12 family houses and a school for 1000 pupils (primary and secondary) was established in 2001.
in 1977 an SOS Children's Village was built in Kolkata. The community has fourteen family houses. In 1991 twelve youth houses were added to the village.
Latur, is in the central state of Maharashtra, and was the epicentre of the 1993 earthquake. An immediate SOS emergency aid programme in the area was followed by the construction of an SOS Children's Village for children orphaned in the disaster. The Latur community has 12 family houses, a youth house, a nursery school and a social centre.
The SOS community in the city of Pune, in the state of Maharashtra is about 200 km south of Bombay. The SOS Village in Pune has 20 family houses, each with a small courtyard, and two youth houses. There is an SOS primary school and a welfare centre for street children, called the Mumbai Centre.
Rajpura is in the Punjab, about 250 km from Delhi. The SOS community in Rajpura has 14 family houses and a youth house, as well as a nursery school.
Rourkela opened in 2001 following an earlier SOS emergency relief programme in Rourkela for victims of the cyclone in Orissa in 1999. The Rourkela village has 12 family houses and a nursery school.
Shillong is the capital of Meghalaya State, an area of great natural beauty in eastern India. The Shillong SOS community has 12 family houses with a youth house, a nursery school, kitchen gardens and a training workshop.
Trichur is in a predominantly Catholic area in the south-western state of Kerala, most of the children are Catholic. The SOS Children's Village in Trichur has 17 family houses and a nursery school.
Varanasi is about 16 km from the holy city of Benares on the river Ganges, and close to the Buddhist place of pilgrimage, Sarnath. The SOS community in Varanasi has 18 family houses, two youth houses, a nursery school and a secondary school which has places for 900 pupils.
Vishakhapatnam is in the Andhra Pradesh state, an area that was devastated by a cyclone in 1996 in which many children were orphaned. The SOS Community in Vishakhapatnam was built following an SOS emergency aid programme to support those affected by the cyclone. The village has 14 family houses and a nursery school.
Local contacts
SOS Children's Villages of India
A-07 Nizamudin West
New Delhi 110 013 / India
Tel: +91/11/24355835
Fax: +91/11/24357298
e-mail: soscvi@vsnl.com
www.soscvindia.org
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