Two SOS Children’s Villages support at-risk children in Pokhara
SOS Children's Village Gandaki is situated near the city of Pokhara in central Nepal and was set up after a devastating landslide hit the region in 1978. In Pokhara, there are two SOS Children's Villages: SOS Children's Village Gandaki, which is for Nepali children, and SOS Children's Village Pokhara, which is for children from Tibet, autonomous region of China.
The city of Pokhara has a population of over 250,000, making it Nepal’s second largest city. It is located at an altitude ranging from 1,000 to 1,700 metres in the foothills of the Annapurna mountain range. This makes the city a very popular destination for tourists, trekkers and mountaineers from around the world. Although Pokhara wasn´t affected by the earthquake in 2015, the number of tourists visiting the city has fallen, and this has brought difficulties to those catering for tourists.
Thousands of children do not have a fair chance in life
Nepalese society continues to be deeply divided: children suffer discrimination based on their caste, their gender and the social status of their family. Children with a disability are at a particular disadvantage as, in most cases, professional support is not available to them. Thousands of poor families live on the margins of society, which means that their children are born into a life of disadvantage, where they do not have the same opportunities to develop their full potential as other children. When parents are struggling just to provide for their children’s most basic needs such as food and shelter, the children’s emotional, educational and psychological needs are often neglected.
In addition, many parents cannot afford to send their children to school as the costs for tuition, school uniforms and books are too high for them. These children usually end up having to work in order to help support the family; in Nepal, over one third of all children under the age of 14 works. Most work environments are extremely detrimental to a young child’s healthy development and put them at the risk of violence, as well as physical, mental, and sexual abuse.
What we do in Gandaki
SOS Children’s Villages began its work in Gandaki in 1979.
Strengthen families: Our social centre here offers a family strengthening programme to members of the surrounding communities. We aim to identify struggling families and provide all the support they need so that their children will be safe and healthy and can attend school. One of our main focuses is providing literacy classes for children who have missed out on education. We support local women by holding training workshops on income-generating skills, and we give guidance on health matters. We also run a day-care centre, which allows working parents to leave their children in safe hands while they are out making a living.
Care in SOS families: For children from the region who are no longer able to live with their parents, 15 SOS families can provide a loving home. In each family, the children live with their brothers and sisters, affectionately cared for by their SOS mother.
Education: Children attend the SOS Kindergarten and the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, where they are taught together with children from local families, which helps them become part of the community. The school offers primary and secondary education for 840 pupils.
Support for young people: Once the children reach adolescence, they usually move on to the SOS Youth Programme when they start vocational training or go on to higher education. With the support of qualified professionals, the young people develop perspectives for their future, learn to shoulder responsibility and increasingly make their own decisions. They are encouraged to develop team spirit and build up contacts with relatives and friends, as well as with the relevant authorities and potential employers.
Emergency Programme: After the 2015 earthquake, we set up two Child Friendly Spaces. These provided day care and food to children from families who had been affected by the natural disaster.