SOS Children's Village, Jaffna to start in August

Ridma Dissanayake

The SOS Children's Village in Jaffna will commence operations from August.

Ananda B. Karunarathna

A mother and children at the SOS Children's Village in Piliyandala. Pictures by Thushara Fernando

SOS Children's Villages Sri Lanka National Director Ananda B. Karunarathna told the Daily News that the construction of the Jaffna SOS Children's Village is still ongoing and will be complete by the end of July.

The Village will have 12 family houses, SOS kindergarten and SOS Youth home for boys and girls.

"Every child needs a loving home to flourish in and the SOS villages have helped many to have a home and a family to belong to and a means to grow up with care since 1979.

Currently, there are five SOS villages functioning in Piliyandala, Nuwara Eliya, Galle, Anuradhapura and Moneragala," he said.

There are over 800 young children and youth being cared for in SOS families in five SOS Children's Villages.

Over 5,000 children and adults from neighbouring areas of the SOS Children's Villages are direct beneficiaries of various programmes such as SOS kindergartens, medical centres, family strengthening programmes, vocational training centres and SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, he said.

"We took action with regard to unaccompanied children in the IDP camps in the North.

Nearly 200 children and youths were provided care at the SOS Temporary Care Project," he said.

One hundred and twenty children were reunited with their families and extended families, he added.

The Jaffna SOS Children's Village will be a home for the children under the SOS temporary care project and for many children in the North who are at risk due to losing the care of their families, Karunarathna said.