SOS Children in Mozambique

In 1992, 16 years of civil war came to an end during which time more than one million people were killed, 1.7 million fled to neighbouring countries and over 4 million were internally displaced. Since the signing of the peace accord, political stablility and impressive growth have been achieved, but Mozambique still remains one of the least developed countries in the world. The benefits of the economic recovery are available to only a few and 70 per cent of the population continues to live in absolute poverty.

We began our work in Mozambique in 1987 with the construction of the first SOS Children's Village in Tete, in the northeast of the country, to provide a home for children who had lost their parents during the war. Before it opened in 1989, an emergency aid programme was organised in the area to counter the effects of famine. The village has 11 family homes and youth houses for over 70 young people in both the village and in nearby Matundo and Matema. There is a nursery school, a primary and secondary school, a small SOS Medical Centre and a number of vocational training workshops, all of which are open to the local community.

In 1992, a second emergency relief programme was established in Tete when the harvest failed because of drought throughout southern Africa. Since then the programme has been repeated annually with the aid focused on children suffering from malnutrition, mothers and pregnant women. An outreach programme for children in neighbouring villages - a bush nursery school of tents - was set up in 1995 which provides day care and regular meals for over one hundred small children.

We opened a second SOS Children's Village in one of the poorest areas of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, in 1996. Like Tete, SOS Children's Village Maputo has 11 family houses as well as two youth houses. Additional facilities, all of which are open to the local community, include a nursery, a primary and a secondary school and a vocational training centre.

In July 2002, an SOS Social Centre was opened in Maputo. This provides basic pre-school and vaccination programmes and literary and training courses for the surrounding community as well as HIV/AIDS awareness programmes.

SOS Children's Village Pemba, 2000km north of Maputo in Cabo Delgado province, was completed at the end of 1999. Using local materials and built in the traditional style, it has 15 family houses, a nursery and a primary and secondary school. The number of children enrolled in the three SOS schools in Mozambique is currently just under 4000. The SOS Social Centre provides similar services to the one in Maputo, and is currently extending its HIV/AIDS community outreach programmes.

A fourth SOS Children’s Village is being built at Inhambane on the east coast of Mozambique. There will be 15 family homes for 180 orphaned and abandoned children. There will also be an SOS Nursery School for 90 children, a combined SOS Primary and Secondary School for 1600 children. In addition there will be an SOS Social Centre to support children and their families in the local community.

Aids Orphans in Mozambique

See also Aids Orphan Projects in Mozambique, Africa.