During a clay workshop, children in SOS Children's Village Tres…
A group of Italian scupltors have been teaching children how to enjoy making pottery.
- Lisa
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During a clay workshop, children in SOS Children's Village Tres Ríos, Costa Rica, learnt different techniques to make clay figures.
A group of Italian scupltors have been teaching children how to enjoy making pottery.
Monica Del Buono, one of the instructors explains, "We tried to teach the children the various techniques that are used to model clay. On the first day, we met the children and we left them to play with the clay on their own, so that they could learn to use their imagination".
The warm and friendly attitude of the Italian women almost instantly made the children feel comfortable and confident about learning the different techniques. The little artists were happy and eager to play with the clay, which none of them had done before. Anthony, aged eight, told his SOS mother Rosa: "We had a lot of fun making figures out of mud!" Erick, a ten-year-old boy, added, "It was very funny because our hands were all slippery!"
- Mary
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A picture of a baby from Children's Village Alwaye-Cochin in India.
This year marks the forty fith anniversary of SOS Children's Villages of India. Since it was founded in 1964, the country's national association has provided care and aid to more than 10,000 children, and has established 26 children's villages and over 100 supporting facilities.
In 1963 with the support of the government and the newly-appointed village director, Shri J N Kaul, SOS Children's Villages of India was born, and on 12 March 1964 the association was officially registered.
India's first village opened in 1967, and Mr Kaul and a small team of SOS mothers and staff worked hard to transform the rocky site on a barren hillock into the 'green fields' that it is today. Their efforts paid off.
The SOS concept of family-based care fell on fertile ground in India. Almost two decades after independence, the country was struggling to come to terms with the agricultural revolution and industrialisation, which was further compounded by poverty and rapid population growth. Large numbers of children were being employed in industry.
The huge needs in the vast country led to a rapid increase in the work of SOS Children's Villages. Today, the organisation's facilities span the width and breadth of the world's second most populous country: from Cochin in the south to the northern city of Jammu, Bhuj in the west to north-eastern Hojai. These include 26 children's villages, and a whole range of facilities designed to help alleviate poverty in local communities, including nurseries, schools, medical, social and vocational training centres.
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