A portrait of a little girl at Children's Village Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.…
This is the story of how the Mongolian SOS Children's Villages came into being; it is quite interesting because it involves a number of characters from around the world, all with a common goal.
- Lisa
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A portrait of a little girl at Children's Village Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
This is the story of how the Mongolian SOS Children's Villages came into being; it is quite interesting because it involves a number of characters from around the world, all with a common goal.
In 1996, Mrs Monica Quaroni, wife of the Italian ambassador to Beijing, got in touch with SOS and offered her support in establishing an SOS Children's Village in Mongolia. By the following year, Mrs Quaroni had succeeded in getting, among others, the wife of the Mongolian Prime Minister interested in the project.
After the visit of a Mongolian delegation to several SOS Children's Village facilities in China in autumn 1997, SOS was invited by the Mongolian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to hold talks on the possibility of setting up an SOS Children's Village. A government agreement between SOS and the government of Mongolia was signed in 1998 and a suitable plot of land was chosen in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. In May 2000, the construction of SOS Children's Village Ulaanbaatar started. It was completed in summer 2002, and the first families moved into the new family houses soon after. Due to the large number of children in need in Mongolia, it was decided to build a second SOS Children's Village. In April 2006, the SOS Children's Village Darkhan was complete.
There are several hundred orphans in Ulaanbaatar alone, who are not provided for through the extended family system and are living either in orphanages or in the streets. That is one reason why it was decided to build the country's first SOS Children's Village in the capital. A suitable, 2.7-hectare plot of land was found on the eastern outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. The SOS Children's Village consists of fourteen family houses, the village director's house, a house for the SOS aunts (family helpers who support the SOS mothers), a multi-purpose hall, as well as an administration and service area.
The children from the SOS Children's Village attend state schools. Additional English classes for children and mothers are taught at the village in order to improve their language skills. Tutors help children who have problems at school. An educational co-worker visits the schools regularly in order to get the teachers' input about the children's performance. Teachers of gymnastics, chess, checkers, table tennis, accordion, dance and folk songs organize classes for children, and the village hall is always busy with activities.
- Mary
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Flowers at Children's Village Pokhara, Nepal.
An SOS Children's Village was built in the village of Chhorepatan near Pokhara in 1978. Pokhara is a small town in the highlands about 6 hours by car from the capital of Kathmandu. The aim of SOS Children's Village Pokhara has always been to provide family-based care for Tibetan children and to help the Tibetan refugees who live in a refugee camp nearby.
SOS Children's Village Pokhara consists of twelve family houses, the village director's house, other staff accommodation and an administrative building. The SOS Children's Village also runs an SOS School including an SOS nursery, a primary school and a secondary school. All these institutions are open for children of Tibetan refugees and the other children from the neighbourhood as well. There are also different SOS Youth Facilities and youth communities where young people live together under the care of a youth supervisor.
They continue their education and training in order to prepare for future independence. Close to the SOS Children's Village, there is an SOS Vocational Training Centre with various workshops. At this centre, young Tibetans from all over Nepal and also from the Tibetan SOS Children's Villages in India can acquire various technical and office skills. They can become carpenters, turners, metal workers, electrical and electronic engineers, secretaries or information technicians. The SOS Vocational Training Centre also includes a canteen and dormitories for boarding students.
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