• SOS vocational training centres provide young adults with the skills they will need to secure reliable employment.

By STEPHEN KAPAMBWE –

CHARLES was born in Lusaka’s Kanyama Township. His parents divorced when he was just an infant. He and his two older brothers stayed with his father. His youngest brother and two sisters went to live with his mother in a different region of the city.
Charles explains that living apart from his mother was difficult, but in 2001, his mother gained custody of all her children.
Although this was wonderful for the children, Charles’ mother struggled to care for all six of them without a reliable source of income.
Life started to became unbearable for Charles’ family. Then SOS Children’s Villages Zambia began to work in their community and
noticed the conditions of Charles’ family. The family joined the SOS Family Strengthening Programme in 2011 when Charles was 17 years old.
Through the interventions of the SOS programme, Charles managed to complete his education. He had already completed primary school, but was now able to complete his secondary education. With all of his siblings in school, Charles’s household suddenly became a centre of homework and aspirations.
“I would like to continue my education and venture into the world of information technology. I am very grateful for all the support my family and I received from SOS Children’s Villages Zambia,” says Charles.
Charles is one of the young people benefitting from the SOS Children’s Villages Zambia empowering youth programme, one of the many
interventions which the organisation is implementing across the country.
Since it opened doors to the public in Lusaka in 1999, the SOS Children’s Villages Zambia has become a dependable part of the local
community where, besides carrying out its core business of educating vulnerable children, the organization also provides healthcare and support to the public.
The organisation is a leading international child care institution present in 134 countries. It has been operating in Zambia since 1999 when the first village was opened in Lusaka.
SOS Children’s Villages Zambia is a non-Governmental child welfare organization affiliated to SOS Children’s Villages International which was established in 1949.
Its main objective is to provide long term family care to children in need of support regardless of race, color, creed and religious
affiliation.
Its first village in Lusaka was comprised of fifteen family houses.
With the growing demand for its services, SOS Zambia has seen itself expanding in terms of geographical coverage, number of beneficiaries and programme interventions.
The organisation opened its Kitwe village in 2003 and Livingstone in 2008. The fourth children’s village is under construction in Chipata.
Some of the programmes run by SOS Zambia include a family based care programme comprising 15 family houses in each village located in
Lusaka, Kitwe, Livingstone and Chipata; community based family strengthening programmes located as follows in the four villages
across the country; a kindergarten; basic schools; a high school based at the Lusaka village; medical centres in Lusaka and Kitwe villages and a third that would be located in Chipata; and a vocation training centre at the Lusaka village.
Besides the FSP, SOS Children’s Villages run various social development programs to promote child rights, advocacy on alternative
care, gender, family based care, education, health and child protection.
According to SOS Children’s Villages Zambia National Director Joseph  Munsanje, the child care focused organization appreciates Government’s efforts in championing human rights in areas of health, education and social security.
SOS Children’s Villages Zambia National advocacy officer Gerald Kaputo said his organization is among many other civil society groups involved in child care and promoting child rights.
He said SOS children’s Villages Zambia supplements Government efforts in realizing the rights of children in the country.
“For instance, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia, since its inception in 1999, has carried out many social programs which include raising awareness on child rights in communities, imploring Government to commit herself to the UN guidelines on alternative initiatives to ensure quality care to children who have lost or are about to lose parental care,” he said.
As of this year alone, the organization has, in addition to its core activities, offered medical services to about 48,000 people in surrounding communities.
“Other health services which are there for the community are HIV/AIDS awareness, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), cervical cancer screening, male circumcision and other prevention and care services,” he said.
Other than that, the organisation’s Family Based Care (FBC) programs provide home and care to children who have lost their parents or whose parents are unable to suitably care for them. 755 beneficiaries are currently on the programme.
In order to prevent children from leaving their biological families, in preference to being on the streets for example, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia has Family Strengthening Programs which help families to be economically stable.
One example of the organisation’s family strengthening programmes is the support given to Tikondane’ community based organisation in Lusaka’s Chipata Township.
Group members were in October this year given materials for income generating activities.
The handover was witnessed by SOS Children’s Villages Zambia National Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) Coordinator Chris Phiri and the Lusaka FSP Coordinator Lillian Chilinde.
Over K100,000 worth of materials where handed over, among them industrial sewing machines and supporting equipment.
This was done in an effort to help the community generate its own income and become self-reliant.
Such interventions assist children in families and communities of origin by building the capacity of care-givers and communities to address problems affecting the children and to prevent factors that lead to child abandonment.
Over 7,700 families are benefiting from Family Strengthening Programs implemented by the organization across the country.
SOS Children Villages Zambia also supplements Government efforts in providing quality education to children. The education facilities develop a child from early childhood stage.
281 children are benefitting from the initiative.
The organization has 1,186 children in its primary schools countrywide, 252 in its secondary schools and 165 beneficiaries in its
vocational training centre in Lusaka.
These figures are just for 2015 alone.
The organization intends to reach 16,000 children by 2016 although funds permitting, its commitment is to take care of one million children annually by the same year.
To run all these costly interventions, SOS Children’s Villages Zambia works with individual persons, groups, companies, schools or societies that sponsor individual children, whole families or whole villages.
The organization also relies on international sponsors living in another country other than their sponsored child or village.
The partners have been instrumental in helping SOS Children’s Villages Zambia achieve its objectives.
For example, MTN has since January 2011, covered running costs of the Lusaka village family house number one.
Breza Engineering has also been supportive of the youths at the vocational training centre by providing them with internship and vacation employment.
Bayport Financial Services has so far sponsored three children to the University of Zambia (UNZA) were one has acquired a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics. The remaining two are still pursuing their studies.
The Centre for Infectious Disease and Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) provides the SOS medical centre with staff for the Anti Retroviral clinic.
Habitat for Humanity has supported 60 households on SOS support proggrammes. 15 households have had their houses built from scratch
while 45 have benefitted from renovations on their properties.
These are just some of the many partners that are supporting SOS Children’s Village Zambia in carrying out programmes that hopefully, will see up to a million children being taken care of annually by 2016.