Shillong, June 22: SOS Children’s Village Shillong is a non-profit, non-government organization, committed to the care of children in need and to strengthening families. SOS Shillong is a part of worldwide network of SOS Children’s Villages in 133 countries and in India it is a part of nationwide program in 31 locations. SOS Shillong works primarily for children who have lost their parents (orphans) and children at a risk of losing adequate parental care or being abandoned via a curative and preventive program.
Family Based Care Programme: SOS Children’s Village Shillong has 12 Family Homes. A SOS Family consists of 8-10 children who live with their SOS mother in their SOS Home. Holistic development including education, health and psychological development is provided to children till they are settled through career or marriage. This is the curative program. Presently there are 120 children (76 girls & 44 boys) staying inside the village and 17 children are staying outside.
Family Strengthening programme: aims to prevent children from losing the care of their family or being deprived of basic essentials. We empower families, to strengthen their capacity to protect and care for their children, and strengthen safety nets for vulnerable children. The Family Strengthening Program is a 5 year program and has a two pronged approach:
First it is to ensure education and health of the children. Secondly, it enables the care giver (parent) by providing income enhancement training & capital so that the family becomes self-reliant by the end of the project period. This is the preventive program. Currently SOS Shillong is reaching out to 94 families and 319 children in the nearby villages.
The SOS Children’s Village Shillong is situated on a beautiful hillock overlooking the picturesque Umiam lake spread over 11.4 acres. The construction of the Children’s
Village was started in 1996 and the Village started functioning from August 1999. The first batches of 8 children were brought in May1995 and since then 219 children were brought home.
Our children are pursuing their graduation in various fields like hospitality, journalism, Audiology, Nursing, Social Work, Agriculture and economics. One of our boys is pursuing his post-graduation in the field of hotel management, from Bangalore. One of our girls Synshar after completing B.Sc. in Hospitality from IHM Shillong got selected in campus recruitment and now working with ITC Grand Chola, Chennai, Two of our children Donna and Pyndrapor who have completed their Diploma in Hotel management from Guwahati got recruited in the campus placement by TAJ Vivanta hotels. Currently they are working in Mumbai. One of our boys Tengbat got placed with Hotel Dream Cochin and presently he is working with Hotel Trident in Mumbai. 5 children have been settled after completion of their education. Out 5, one girl got married.
This year 7 children/ youth appeared for class Xth exam and all of them successfully cleared it. 2 of them passed with more than 60% marks. 10 children/Youth appeared for class 12th board exam and 9 could clear the exam successfully. 1 boy passed with more than 60% marks. The children are going to various schools nearer to village and also in Shillong. This year we took admission for our children to quality schools nearby like Christ School (International) and Army Public School. Children are undergoing vocational training in beauty culture at Guwahat, graduation in the field of Trauma and emergency, Commerce and Hotel management. 08 girls are pursuing diploma courses in various fields such as Medical Lab technician, Radiography and hotel management. Tuitions are conducted regularly to support the children in education by 03 part time tutors.
The village has a well-equipped dispensary. Annual medical checkup was conducted in the month of April 2014 for all children by Medical Officer of ICAR. When required, children are taken for medical attention by a trained Aunty. Deworming is administered to all children twice in year as per Doctor’s prescription. DDT is sprayed in all family homes periodically by local authorities.
The village has a children’s extra-curricular committee which conducts various activities periodically. Child protection movie screening, resilience building, Model making competition, Cooking competition, Exposure Visits and football matches were conducted. We have an active Scout and Guides Unit in Village. 03 Boys from Auronodaya I and 06 girls from children’s Village are appearing for “Rajya Puraskar Award” this year, which will be presented by Honorable Governor of Meghalaya. Scout and Guides Unit also conducted trekking and Hiking twice and also participated in various camps. Children Education committee and Extracurricular committee are active in village and meet once in a month. Village also has active mothers club which conducts activities like cleaning drive and program on children’s day apart from meeting once in a month. Training on alternate discipline and emotional well- being of mothers has been imparted and they are continuing the activities they have learnt. Common sense parenting training to mothers will start shortly. All major festivals are celebrated in village and important days like Mother’s day, Environment day, SOS day and national days are observed with enthusiasm. Some of our children are good in drawing and they have participated in drawing competitions conducted by Meghalaya Forest department and won many prizes.(SP News)
