On Wednesday 11 November 2015, the Luxembourg branch of SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, in the company of new 2015 ambassador and RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg presenter and journalist, Monica Semedo, presented the organisation's new sponsorship campaign.
With 16,000 under five-year-olds dying every day and 13 million orphaned children around the world, the actions of SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde could not be more greatly needed. The NGO was first created after WWII by Austrian doctor Hermann Gmeiner and 66 years later provides support to abandoned, distressed, displaced, impoverished or handicapped children and their families in 134 countries globally.
Recently returned from a mission to Nepal to assess the situation on the ground following the devastating earthquakes, SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde Director, Sophie Glesener, reaffirmed the significance of SOS projects in regions that have been ripped apart by natural disasters or human conflict.
"What immediately hits you is the destructive force of the earthquake," she explained. "Whole villages and historic quarters, like that of Bhaktapur classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were destroyed".
SOS Villages d'Enfants has been present in Nepal for the last 43 years and has been active in providing emergency aid in the aftermath of the earthquakes which killed nearly 9,000 people and injured a further 22,000 earlier this year. The material damage was also extensive, with 600,000 homes destroyed and 32,000 classrooms turned to rubble. The organisation, which already had 10 Villages d'Enfants and 8 youth houses set up in the region, as well as around 20 educational, social and medical institutions, established 4 emergency camps following the disaster, providing more than 100,000 services to over 8,000 people affected.
Whilst Ms. Glesener stated that during her visit "I often had tears in my eyes", she also found encouragement in the progress made by the association, saying "I was impressed by the remarkable work done by SOS Nepal in extremely difficult conditions. All collaborators are very involved. On the ground, around 400 people have already participated in this programme".
With multiple SOS projects around the world attempting to provide continual assistance to thousands of children and their families, SOS Village d'Enfants relies on support through the 4,500 sponsorships it currently holds, of which 3,400 are child sponsorships and 1,100 sponsor Villages d'Enfants SOS.
The SOS sponsorship programme constitutes a long-term commitment to orphaned children or those who have been abandoned by or separated from their parents and have arrived ar one of the 1,219 Villages d'Enfants SOS and Foyers de Jeunes SOS. Through this benevolent programme, 78,700 children have now found a nurturing environment following a trauma, of which Mouna in Dulu, Uganda, is but one example.
As an infant, Mouna was living on the streets with her mother, who one day suddenly disappeared, leaving Mouna alone. Traumatised by the experience, Mouna arrived at the Village d'Enfants SOS in Gulu as a silent and introverted child but, suddenly finding herself with an SOS mother and 11 new brothers and sisters, Mouna slowly began to open up over time and is now a contented nine-year-old.
There are two options available within the sponsorship programme: sponsoring a child through SOS Village and helping to provide food, clothing, school supplies and medical support; or supporting a Village d'Enfants SOS by contributing to the functioning of its various educational, social and medical infrastructures.
Interested parties are able to select, when filling out the sponsorship form, in which continent they would like to support a child, and even which country. For €30 a month, subscribers will be contributing to the long-term support of an SOS child or project, and will receive updates and photos on the progress of the child twice annually.
To sponsor a child, or find out more information on the campaign, visit www.sosve.lu or contact parrainage@sosve.lu / +352 490 430.
Photos by SOSVE (Top L-R: 2015 Ambassador of SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, Monia Semedo; Director of SOS Villages d'Enfants Monde, Sophie Glesener. Bottom: Mouna with her SOS mother)
