It all began with a man called Hermann Gmeiner who witnessed the horrors of the Second World War, and the suffering of orphaned children, isolated as a consequence of it. His heart was moved to implement his idea for SOS Children's Villages. On the 23rd of June 2019, in commemoration of the 100th birth anniversary of this great individual, SOS Villages will celebrate SOS DAY.
They say, it takes a village to raise a child which is very much the strategy SOS Villages Sri Lankause to raise their children and a strategy that has proven effective. One fine Thursday morning, we found ourselves on a tour of the Village in Piliyandala to learn about what goes on within its premises and how they work towards helping children who are orphaned or have families who can't take care of them. Most people think that children who live in children's homes don’t have any parents. Contrary to this belief, most children do have both parents or are single parented. Some of these children are given up for adoption or are abandoned because their parents are unable to provide an education, food, or a healthy environment for them to grow up in.
SOS Children’s Village is not an orphanage. Far from it in fact. SOS Village is a unique experience for children who come from broken homes. SOS Sri Lanka builds families for orphaned, abandoned and other vulnerable children who have had a bad hand dealt to them by life. SOS provides for these children a home life with other children and a mother. These mothers are extensively trained and are hired to take on a sacrificial role for as long as the child needs a mother at the Village. SOS provides children a second chance and an opportunity to excel at life. When children cannot live with their biological families or lose families due to various reasons, SOS Villages provides a safe home, keeping intact their relationship with their siblings, so that they can grow up in one of the SOS families.
Children who have lost parental care, are provided a miraculous second chance to have a family, to have a home and opportunities to build their lives. A loving home environment, loving embrace of a mother who will remain a parent to these children. The children grow up in a normal house, with a mother, their own siblings if they have any and a few other children. It is as close to a normal household.
Speaking to us, Divakar Ratnaduri – National Director, SOS Children's Villages, Sri Lanka, added that "SOSCVSL is a childcare organization that provides a loving mother, siblings, a safe home and community for children without parental care to grow up in. This is our primary purpose in society. To ensure that such children also get equal opportunities in life, so they may grow up to reach their full potential and be contributing citizens of the country. Our purpose has further extended to encompass preventive measures to ensure children do not end up in childcare institutions by alleviating poverty-stricken families that are at risk of breaking down, thus securing the lives of children within such families."
To provide quality alternative care for children, to raise them, to provide a good education, to sustain a charity of this nature and caliber takes a considerable amount of donations, which is where you, the reader, steps in. The SOS Village and their children need your sponsorship. If you are a Corporate, there are many ways to give. Matching gifts are donations made by a company that match the charitable contributions of its employees. Corporate partnerships, crowdfunding, sponsorship of a child, sponsorship of a family and one time donations are some of the ways to donate.
To sponsor a child on a monthly basis, you can follow this link. Your donation will be used to provide a loving home, education and quality care. SOS Village will send regular communication to you on our work.
We encourage you to make SOS Village your CSR initiative and to consider the many ways you can partner with SOS Villages to sustain their projects and to provide a comfortable home for those children who need a second chance at life.
