Children's Villages
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Through Children’s Villages Charity Child gives orphans, abandoned and neglected children a hopeful future in a safe and loving family home.
We help the children in all ways possible
The child arrives at the Children's Village through the local social authotities - often at this point with no family nor a name. Once the child has been welcomed in the family home by brothers, sisters and the carring mother he or she is loved and carred for 24 hours a day, and the Children's Village takes the responsibility of that child until he or she is old enough to leave home.
In the Children's Village the child grows up in a family and create stong ties with both sisters, brothers and the mother which are often kept long after the child has grown up and left home. This child gets a second chance in life and grows up in a safe environment with a loving family preparing the child for the adult life. An abandoned child, who would not have had any hope for the future is now living in the family home in a Children's Village.
The Children's Villages provides the children with a hopeful future. Charity Child is helping three Children's Villages by making it possible to donate to, or being a sponsor of, children, family homes, kindergardens, schools, youth houses, medical clinics, social offices and entire Children's Villages - Cuzco in Peru, Itahari in Nepal and from 2008 the new Children's Village Blantyre in Malawi.
Children's Village Cuzco, Peru
Children's Village Cuzco is situated in the city of the same name, which was once the centre of the legendary Inca empire. Cuzco is located in the Peruvian Andes highlands at an altitude of 3,399 m and at present has around 750,000 inhabitants. The Children's Village is two kilometres from the city centre in the district of Santiago. It consists of twelve family houses, where up to 108 children can find a new home, the village director's house, a house for the so-called aunts (mother trainees or family helpers who support the mothers during their daily work and fill in for them when they are ill or on leave), a community building with rooms for functions and festivities, and an administration and service area. There are also two sports fields, where the children can play.
For youngsters from the Children's Village, two Youth Facilities were set up in town in 1999. They consist of various flats shared by up to 20 youngsters. Young people usually move from the Children's Village to an Youth Facility when they start a vocational training course or go on to higher education. With the support of qualified youth workers, the young people develop realistic perspectives for their future, learn to shoulder responsibility and increasingly make their own decisions. They are encouraged to develop team spirit and build up contacts with relatives and friends, as well as with the relevant authorities and potential employers.
An Social Centre was opened in March 2003. It is open to the people from the neighbourhood and offers programmes that have been specially adapted to the needs of local community. Its main aim is to alleviate hardship and thereby prevent families from abandoning their children. The Social Centre runs a day-care centre, where up to 120 pre-school kids can be looked after. This gives the children's mothers, most of whom are single mothers, the possibility to go to work and to make a living for themselves and their children.
Children's Village Itahari, Nepal
Children's Villages decided to build the sixth Nepalese Children's Village after the heavy earthquake of 1988, during which many people were left homeless and numerous children lost their parents. Itahari is a fast-growing town in eastern Nepal. It is situated in a fertile plain near the Indian border, about 500 km away from Kathmandu. The Children's Village is located approximately 3 km outside the town, in a small place called Arhariya.
Children's Village Itahari was officially inaugurated in February 1992 in the presence of Children's Village President Helmut Kutin. It consists of 14 family houses, the village director's house, coworkers' residences as well as administrative buildings.
There is also an Hermann Gmeiner School including a kindergarten, a primary and a secondary school with 15 classrooms altogether. The adjoining Social Centre provides day care for children from the local community whose parents earn their living as labourers. Additionally, it offers health counselling, literacy classes for children as well as income generating training workshops for women. The Social Centre also organizes different programs of community support according to needs. All these services have contributed to a very good relationship with the local population. In 2001, an Youth Facility was established in the city of Biratnagar (about 30 km from Itahari). There young people live together preparing for their future independence under the care of a youth supervisor.
Children's Village Blantyre, Malawi NEW
Blantyre, capital of the Blantyre region in the south of the country, is Malawi's largest city. It was named after explorer David Livingstone who was born in the Scottish town of Blantyre. The Southern Region of Malawi has the highest poverty rate, the highest HIV prevalence and is very densely populated. The local population is very young and over a third are under fifteen years of age. An adequate and well connected plot of land in South Lunzu, on the outskirts of Blantyre, was chosen for the erection of the Children's Village. It is a low to middle income area surrounded by poor villages which suffers from an absence of major service providers like hospitals and schools.
The Children's Village Blantyre will comprise fifteen family houses for up to 150 orphaned, abandoned and neglected children, an administration and service area, a community hall and a house for the village director.
The adjoining kindergarten will be open to the children from the Children's Village and the surrounding community children and will help to improve the pre-school situation in South Lunzu. In three group rooms, up to 90 children between two and six years will be looked after.
Moreover, the erection of an Hermann Gmeiner School is planned, which will offer primary school education to up to 320 children. The School will help alleviate the overcrowded primary schools in South Lunzu und will provide quality education to children from the Children's Village and the neighbourhood. It will comprise eight classrooms, three rooms for woodwork, home economics and needlework and a library.
The goal of the planned Social Centre is to assist child-headed or granny-headed families in the very poor communities in the vicinity. This will be done through partnerships with community based organisations and the planned activities comprise the running of youth activities, recruitment of volunteers, and most importantly assisting the community based organisations in building their capacity so they can more effectively help those in their communities.
Through the Social Centre, up to 2.000 orphaned, abandoned and neglected children and their families will be reached per year.
The Social Centre will be strongly linked to the Medical Centre, which will put a significant focus on HIV/AIDS and the related impacts of this pandemic.
Additionally, a rehabilitation programme for children with disabilities will be established. The Medical Centre will comprise three consultation rooms, a drug store, two treatment rooms, a counselling room, a laboratory, an x-ray room, three therapy rooms and a library.
Collaboration
Charity Child has chosen a close collaboration with the higly reputable aid organization SOS Children's Villages Denmark, in order to garantie our donors, sponsors, members and volunteers sustainable, fixed budgeted and well documented development projects.
Please contact Charity Child for further information. |