Sponsor's update from Benguela, Angola

Child sponsorship update from the SOS Children's ViIlage Benguela, Angola from October 2007

Dear Sponsors and friends,

We are pleased to inform you on some of the main social events and general activities that we have been taking in our SOS Children’s Village this year. Our Village is progressing very well. Now we are operating with 95 children. Every day we find children with no mother and father and no one to look after them at all, such a situation worries us, but as we cannot accommodate them all in the Village, the Family Strengthening Programme is helping some people to prevent orphans in the community.

War is over from five years ago and the government started rebuilding some of the infrastructures destroyed by the wars that desolate our Country for many years, such as hospitals, schools, roads, and also to restore families and so on. Many people now should go to their place and cultivate lands, collecting the products from the land, sell it and sustain theirselves and their families. It is also an opportunity to get jobs and restart lives.

Till now, here in the Village of Benguela we don’t yet have youths as you are acknowledge, the big one between them will be only 14 years old. They are intelligent and marvellous kids and we hope they continue to be like this in the future.

In their free times they have excursions, visit local factories, play football and other games. Some of the children native from the inland region have an art of garden cultivation and they did their own green place behind of their houses were they can cultivate some vegetables. They are having English lesson at school and also SOS football team is giving nice moments competing with other teams from the community.

Some of the Children’s Village attend physical training sections 2 times a week were they meet their teacher. Unfortunately we don’t have here a gymnasium but we have a place where they meet to practise exercises. The gymnastic teacher is doing its maximum efforts to maintain a health body condition of our Children. And another group of Children formed a choir, they have nice songs and they uses to sing them in some of the activities that we have been here in the Village. Besides, there are some other children learning shoemaking. All of them are going well and they enjoy participating in these activities.

Children's school activities

The SOS School is still going well; the teachers are doing its efforts to lead the Children for better knowledge. The School accommodates 368 children in which 18 of the scholarship program, 74 0f our Village, 276 from the community and 12 gave up from school for unknowns reasons, all of them are from the community. The School is comprised by 7 classes for grades 1, 2, 3 and grade 4, and also 3 classes for grades 5 and 6.

The School has 2 laboratory, 4 toilets, 2 for learners and 2 for teachers, and 1 kitchen. Into the classes are 120 double desks and 240 individuals, 12 blackboards and 12 secretary desks. There are 13 teachers and they are divided by classes from class 1 to class 6 but only 1 teacher teaches English for all the classes. All the teachers attended a training of refreshment section of teaching methods this year from 30th July to 2nd August, so that they can be capable to give more knowledge to the children. The library was opened on 4th June in which some of the books in there were raised when the School realised the activity of 1st June known as a Child International Day and they invited some of the groups from the community. A group called Youth United for Peace (YUP) visited and donated for the school 8 pare of shoes and 31 used clothes and the Children were glade for that.

On the 22 June the grade 3 learners went to visit the Television facilities of our Province and they enjoyed seeing how the television signals come through to our homes. The school formed 2 football teams for boys and for girls, they sometimes matches with other teams around the village. Most time we win the game. Nevertheless, the SOS School implemented a programme of cleanings in every Fridays and all the learners from grade 1 to grade 6 they all participate and they enjoy doing it. That’s not all, on the cleaning days they do also practises gardening. The academic year is just finishing next month (November) and all of them are expecting to pass with a good mark.

The SOS Nursery School was operating with 111 children, unfortunately 2 children from the community gave up and now are operating with 109 children in whom 16 are from the SOS Village, 5 from the Scholarship Program and 88 are from the community, and 7 of them are going to the primary school next year.

They also realise kinds of activities in and outside the village with other children from the other Nursery Schools. On the 13th March the Nursery School commemorates the 1st anniversary since it was opened. On the Child’s International Day, the Nursery School Children were privileged with some balls by a group of friends of our Province and the children were very happy for that. On the other hand, our Children also donated some products raised by them to another group of Children living near by our Village. The farewell will be next month in (November). Above of all the Children realised many activities in which they acquire some experiences and they enjoyed a lot.

Supporting children and communities at Benguela

The Clinic is now opened 3 months ago. It started working with 1 nurse only but after some days we recruited another nurse and now they are two. These two nurses are doing its best to help our Village’s Children and others against some diseases that troubled us every day, such as malaria which is common mostly in children and pregnant women. The General Government is providing mosquito nets to protect against mosquitoes that cause malaria.

Our children as well are beneficiating on that and we are all pleased because the children of our Village in general are been well protected. The Village’s nurses are also working with traditional leaders to mobilise the community about the disease. Most of the people from the community around our village doesn’t know yet about our Clinic but the Clinic’s staffs are announcing through their leaders to so that they can no longer walk about miles to meet the hospitals into the town, but to meet our Clinic near by them, and to benefit from it. Unfortunately we don’t have yet a laboratory to examine certain diseases or to prepare materials, it is our desire to have it in our Clinic, and we will have it soon.

The Emergency Programme continues giving regularly daily meal and we always are still receiving more people.

We will always be pleased and glad to receive your letters, gifts and financial supports which encourage our innocent Children, it helps us to maintain the Village in whom we accommodate them, and also many other Children in the communities. This financial support will be very useful for our Children when they grow up and leave the SOS Village and try an independent life.

Once again thank you for your warm and hopeful support for us and we would like to wish you and all your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

May God Bless you.

With Kindness Regards

Rosa Dulce Canuela Gervasio
Sponsorship-Secretary
SOS Benguela-Angola