SOS Children’s Villages in Sri Lanka:

Loving home for every child

The first SOS Children’s Village was conceptualized and established by Dr Hermann Gmeiner in the Imst town of Austria 1949. Today its membership was increased to 7 million and it operates in 133 countries.

Since 1979, the SOS Children’s Village in Sri Lanka, - an independent, voluntary, non-Governmental and social development organization has been helping orphaned and abandoned children. This organization has kept children off the street and replaced broken houses with the loving embrace of family.

There are five SOS Children’s Villages in Sri Lanka. They are situated in Piliyandala, Moneragala, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle, Anuradhapura and Mannar. Each SOS village have 10 to 16 houses and they run by a SOS Mother. In addition there is a full fledged vocational training center at Moneragala and currently there are over 45 outgoing projects with these children’s villages. The sixth SOS Children’s Village will be established in Jaffna soon. This organization having signed an agreement with the Social Services Ministry in 1979, SOS has helped over 800 young adults integrate to society as mature and responsible citizens.

“In adult life we reveal how we faced in childhood. The quality of childhood is critical-as a help or hindrance in later life.”

- Helmut Kutin, SOS President

SOS Children’s Villages vision is ‘Every child belongs to a family and grows with love,respect and security.’ They have done a great job to achieve their goals step by step. SOS Children’s Village concept is based on four principles and they are the house, the village, the mother and siblings.

House

The House is one of the most important necessity to develop children’s personality. Before they adapt to the society, they are trained from houses. They grow, learn, share responsibilities and all joys and sorrows of a daily life by living in a home as a family.

Village

These SOS families live together and they form a supportive village environment to the children to enjoy a happy childhood. It helps children to share experiences and offer someone a helping hand. Each child learns to participate actively in society by this supportive village environment as well.

Mother

SOS Mother means someone who dedicates her life to the course and is responsible for the well-being of both sons and daughters.

They build a close relationship with every child entrusted to mothers, provide security, love and stability that each child needs. SOS Mothers recognize and respect each child’s family background, cultural roots and religion.

SOS Mothers love the children as their own and they have done a great will for SOS Children.

Brothers and sisters

In the SOS Children’s Villages girls and boys of different ages live together as brothers and sisters. Children should have brothers and sisters. Then they can build emotional ties with them. It helps to develop their understanding and respecting skills among them.

This organization also run SOS schools, vocational training centers, emergency relief programs, family strengthening programs, day care centers, youth homes and medical centers. By providing these facilities they support over 5,000 people in Sri Lanka.

They are also working in Chettikulam from May 2009 by providing care to over 200 children and their families. And they held holiday camps, shramadana campaigns and religious programs to the children who lives in SOS Children’s Villages Sri Lanka.

According to the SOS Children’s Villages education unit, SOS children’s achievement becomes more highlighted in comparison to the national results in Sri Lanka. Among the 26 SOS children who sat for the GCE A-Ls in 2010, 18 students have obtained good results and they are eligible to enter university.

This is a great achievement for the children and for the organization as well. Among the 18 students, 15 of them are the ones who have grown up in SOS Children’s Villages since their childhood.

At the moment they are celebrating their 30th anniversary. They are achieving their targets step by step and they pioneered a family approach to the long-term care of orphans.

As a nation we can build a sustainable long term relationship with them and build our reputation, branding and profits. We can make a positive contribution to Sri Lanka’s future and its most valuable resource - children.