Child sponsorship Background from Livingstone, Zambia

SOS Children's Village Livingstone

About 66% of the population of the district lives below the poverty line - most of these being women.  Livingstone district is one of the districts most affected by HIV/AIDS in the country.  The educational sector has been affected by limited infrastructure and inadequate resources.  Given the poverty situation and the increase in the number of orphans, the extended family structures appear to be overstretched.  As facilities for out-of-home care are lacking in the area, the decision was made to build an SOS Children's Village in Livingstone.  A suitable plot of land on the outskirts of the town was donated by the city council.  It is located in a poor neighbourhood.

SOS Children's Village Livingstone consists of fifteen family houses (capacity for up to 150 children), a house for the village director, staff houses and an administration and service block.  Every family house has a small plot of land for laying out vegetable gardens and raising chickens.

Other SOS Projects in Livingstone

Up to 90 children between three and six years of age receive early childhood education in the three group rooms of the SOS Nursery .  It is open to children from the SOS Children's Village and children from the surrounding community.  The SOS Primary School on the same premises operates from grades one to nine in nine classrooms.  The school is also be equipped with a computer lab, a laboratory, a library and classrooms for home economics and woodwork.  It will accommodate about 360 pupils.  Two community based programmes - a Family Strengthening Programme and an HIV/AIDS programme - also run. Overall SOS Children's Village Livingstone provides services to around 1,600 children and their caregivers in the local community.

Background to Livingstone

Livingstone is a city and the capital of the Southern Province of Zambia.  The city is a tourism centre for Victoria Falls, about 10 km south of the Zambezi River.  As such it has road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Falls. The city is around 500km south of Lusaka.  Livingstone has a population of around 100,000.

Livingstone was established in the 1890s through colonial rule, with a lot of mineral prospecting.