Every child sees the world through their parents’ eyes first. It’s our parents who loved us endlessly, and they are the ones who taught us to give that love back to the world. So what if a child loses his or her parent? Who is going to love them? Who will raise them and whisper, “I believe in you” when they hit rock bottom?
SOS Children’s Village was established in 1949 by Austrian philanthropist Hermann Gmeiner. By that time, World War Two had snatched many parents from children, leaving them orphaned. SOS Children’s Village was found with the hope of being a sanctuary for these orphaned children. Currently operating in more than 135 countries, including Sri Lanka, this is the world’s largest non-profit organization focusing on providing care for children in need.
Here in Sri Lanka, there are 3990 children under the care of six SOS Children’s villages located around the country operating to care for neglected, orphaned, or vulnerable children. In SOS Children’s villages, every child gets a family; a mother and siblings. This is what differentiates SOS Children’s village from other children’s homes. Every child gets to feel the warmth of a mother, the love of siblings and a family to call their own.
SOS Children’s village has impacted the children in need through their family strengthening program and vocational training. They have identified that children get affected the most because of families falling apart due to various crises. They have supported families in need with education, nutrition, income, and healthcare, helping them overcome the adverse situations and rise back up again as a family. In addition to that, three vocational training centers are established to help the youth develop vocational skills to live independently.
SOS Children’s Village, which has been improving the lives of abandoned and orphaned children for 39 years in Sri Lanka, will join hands with AIESEC Sri Lanka for the better. They will join forces with the project “Illuminant” organized by AIESEC in University of Sri Jayewardenepura. “Illuminant” is a project designed focusing on realizing the Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka. This project tries to ensure that the children are aware of the SDGs, the current issues related to the SDGs prevailing in Sri Lanka, and the steps they can take to overcome said issues.
In support of project “Illuminant”, SOS Children’s villages Sri Lanka will provide accommodation to exchange participants for a minimum of one to a maximum of five exchange participants in all available branches of SOS children’s village Sri Lanka at a given time.
They will provide sessions and activities to exchange participants covering the minimum working period of 25 hours per week for six weeks. Depending on the resources and the volunteers, exchange participants can hold more editions to the project. In addition to that, SOS Children’s Village Sri Lanka will allow the volunteers to purchase their food from SOS Children’s villages for Rs.675 per day unless the volunteers prefer to buy from a place of their choice.
SOS Children’s Villages strive to create a loving home for every child. And this collaboration with AIESEC will allow the passionate younger generation to carry on this cause, ensuring a promising future for the children who need it the most.
