Child sponsorship update from Addis Ababa
27/03/2008
Update from June 2007
Articulating our familial greetings form SOS family - Addis Ababa Village is always a great pleasure for us. We happily enlighten you with the hottest news of our village.
Admission
We have admitted 15 kids with the replacement of those youths who are transferred to youth facility and have left to University for their further studies.
Education
Our kids have continued their good academic performance. Eight potential candidates are attending tutorial to take entrance exam of the International General School Certificate Examination Program here in Ethiopia.
Activities
We renovated the drainage system of the village compound so as to make the village a better place for our children. The yearly SOS Mothers Day warmly celebrated in the village. All mothers renewed their oaths; to commit their life for the bright future of their children. In addition, world AIDS day warmly celebrated in the village.
SOS Nursery School
At present 125 students including 50 SOS children are visiting the nursery school every day. One of the Educators attended two days training on identifying learning problem of children and some remedial approaches organised by the Addis Ababa Child Development Training and Research Center. A group of nursery school teachers led by experts from the sub-city education bureau had a work visit to our nursery school.
Community Service
We have sustained assisting 210 school going children in the marginalised group of the community with their school uniform, bags and stationery materials.
SOS Social Centre
The Social Centre has also continued its effort in reaching the society especially in combating HIV/AIDS and family strengthening programmes. Partnering with the World Food Program we are providing food aid for 10 HIV positives’ and 60 HIV orphans in the surrounding community.
This helps the adult victims to start their economic life and the children to cope up with their schooling. In our medical center the patients got free medical services and health education.
The day care centre is working hard to avoid child abandonment and neglect. Currently, 150 kids are serving with nutritious meals, nursery lesson and medication in our day care center. We arranged an awareness creation campaign on child right and impacts of traditional harmful practices for their parents. The Centre got donations of medical equipments, drugs, and stationeries from American humanitarian group.
SOS Vocational Training College
The Vocational Training College has been working effectively in producing qualified vocational professionals. Expertises of senior Service Program of Germany are also giving Special academic support for our trainees in their respective field of study. One of our graduating trainee, performed 2nd in the wood model competition of Ethio-Talent Skill Ethiopia; organised by the German Technical Cooperation Organisation in the country.
Finally, we would like to recognise your noble deeds to brighten the futurity of our children. What you have been doing for us is unplayable. May God bless your generous hands!
Sincerely yours,
Gebeyehu Demissie (Mr.)
Village Director - Addis Ababa
Sponsor's update from Harrar
Update from June 2007
Greetings of joy and peace from SOS Harrar family!
To run our village in its full capacity, we admitted 63 needy children from a pastoral community in the southern part of the country and it makes the total number of the children in the village 237. Consequently, a number of children were left to be orphan. It is for the first time that we admitted this amount of children to our village.
Though it was a difficult task admitting a number of children at a time, the children have made it easier for us as they smoothly adapt to the new environment. Currently, most of the children are attending a special class so as to prepare for the formal education in the SOS Nursery School. Some of the children have also filled the space in the nursery school. Others stay at home with their SOS mom, spending some of their time in the newly established kids’ corner. The village has made it possible for the children to mingle easily with the rest of the children in the village. They have already started to play together and participate in the village celebrations. . Taking into consideration that our village is now mostly filled with young children, all the village staffs are determined to make the best of these children more than ever.
Children who moved to youths facilities was given a life skill training on how to keep themselves safe in different aspect of life.
Celebrations
7th of March is the celebration of the SOS Mothers Day. This year, it was celebrated with the motto of “Empowering Mothers to take the Lead”. It was unique from the previous mothers’ day with all mothers and children participation in all activities. At the occasion, music shows, drama plays and poems were presented by the children pronouncing the theme of SOS mothers. The children were also very glad to have the opportunity to express their feelings about their SOS mothers.
The celebration of the youth education day was another important event. The youth from the youth home and also a few others from the village have participated in the occasion. They presented their own shows staged by themselves. They performed talent shows, presented poems, music and drama shows. Important tips about time management, studying and exam taking skills were also given by two invited teachers from the school.
Special Events
SOS Infants Ethiopia, an international non-governmental organisation that is engaged in upbringing orphaned children paid a visit to our Village. The representative from the organisation together with some of the children under their care visited the village and held friendly matches with our youth. The managing director of the organisation discussed with our village director and shared each others experiences.
It was so gratifying to see the weddings adorned by the children in the village. Both of the brides were also proud by their SOS family and happy of the wedding. We are also very delighted to see our children reach the desired goal of leading independent life and form a family of their own.
The village committee which is responsible of reaching the needy children held a meeting with representative from beneficiaries, school principals and charity club leaders in the respective schools. The meeting was aimed to facilitate ways that the children could benefit the most from the service and tackle the barriers of communication between charity clubs, beneficiaries and the committee.
SOS Primary School
The SOS Primary School is still running with almost constant number of students from the previous academic year. However, the number of children attending the school from the village has declined from 125 to 109. This is due to many village children completed their high school and attended local higher institutions and training centers. In return we have few children who join the school in the first grade.
Besides from the normal teaching learning process, the school has continued to give its relentless support to our children’s education.
The tutorial is given by 21 graduating students of the university to our children from grade five to college preparatory students. On the other hand, the school extends its community service program and gave free basic computer training for fifteen needy girls who completed their education and stayed idle in their homes.
In addition, the school has been participating in co-curricular activities. The Environmental club on the other hand, has identified and labeled 60 species of plants both in the school and village compound. Moreover, we participated in the Annual regional inter-school sport competition. Our children have participated actively in most sport games.
In another development, the school has already completed the construction of two lunch rooms with the aim of providing a suitable place for having lunch for the school children. The school has also formed School Academic Advisory Committee to benefit from the brain available from the outside community. The school is expecting help in formulating strategic plan, teachers training and other academic assistance from the committee.
SOS Nursery School
Parents of the community children are also relying on us in laying a fertile ground to the future academic career of their children. Currently, due to higher number of newly admitted children, the number of nursery school students considerably increased compared to the previous year.
Furthermore, in order to equip the nursery school staff, two new nursery school teachers hired. The nursery school has also purchased refrigerator and stove to preparing snack to the kids during brake times.
Ethiopia has its own unique and ancient calendar. In the last summit of the African Union, the Ethiopian millennium declared to be the African Millennium. With your help it is our hope that the new millennium will bring love, peace, stability and development to our children.
Sincerely yours,
Zahra Miftah (Mrs.)
Village Director - Harrar
Relevant Countries: Ethiopia.