Child sponsorship update from Florida, Uruguay

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Florida, Uruguay from Winter 2007/2008

Dear sponsors,

Greetings from Uruguay! Yet another eventful year full of challenges has gone by. We have achieved important progress with our Village Committee, made up by four mothers, who’ve taken on this task of co-direction of the village with great engagement, taking action and handling situations with skill and success.

They have taken on different responsibilities, as is the case of Elena, who having been a mother for over 15 years, has an excellent rapport with the teenagers and already independent youngsters, has taken on the task of accompanying them and becoming their referent. It is quite a challenge to generate quality support for them, making them assume a more active role in decisions affecting their future, as this entails not only the teenagers still living in the village, but also those in the Youth Facilities in the city, the students living in Montevideo and those who although already independent, still require some support.

The village consisting of 16 families and comprising 113 children lies only 2 km from the city of Florida and this year has been marked by an active participation in the community of these families, involving the mothers, children and youngsters. They participated in commissions, either sponsored by the Municipality or belonging to cultural or sporting organisations, as the Anti-Drugs Commission, the Social Network, the Municipality’s Youth Commission and Cultural Department, later sharing their newly acquired knowledge with the others, creating awareness on issues of general interest. Some youngsters attended seminars in other cities on topics that were didactic or of interest to their age group, participating in joint outings with others, resulting in an excellent integration, which will be most beneficial in their future social insertion.

Children learning skills for their future

96% of the children in elementary school passed to the next grade. 27 teenagers are in high school, 20 have opted for technical courses or a trade and 8 study Chemistry, Odontology, Social Work, Forestation, Meteorology, Medicine and Psychology. The vocational training in Carpentry in the village itself is a huge success. In a joint venture with the State and another NGO, we offer courses for teenagers from the village or the community, who for different reasons haven’t been able to get formal education. This is widely supported in Florida, where it is regarded as an opportunity for many youngsters to receive training in a specific trade and this has placed our organization in the position of an important local referent.

The preventive programmes by now consist of six Community Centres in the city’s peripheral areas, where the largest population lives, whose basic needs are not fulfilled. 427 children and 170 adults benefit from our services there. We offer pre-school education and meals, aiming at preventing child abandonment by strengthening the families and we have the voluntary support of the mothers of the children we attend to.

We seek to improve the beneficiaries’ living conditions, while trying to eradicate all form of assistentialism and this was understood and well received by the community and the other organizations which work jointly with us in an extended network. Workshops for mothers are held on topics as self-esteem, values, and domestic violence and training courses in spinning wool and dressmaking and we continue with the communal manufacturing of concrete blocks and the family orchards to improve their living standards.

At this point we’d like to express to you our sincere thanks for the trust you are placing in us and our work here, as well as for your constant and generous support. In the name of the children and the staff in the village, we wish you a Merry Christmas, much happiness and all the best for the New Year!

Ariel Albano, Village Director