SOS Children’s Village: Engagement with an Issue of Global Importance


My service activity, the SOS Children’s Village, is directly related to the engagement with the issues of global importance. More specifically, SOS Children’s Village contributes to reduction of poverty and hunger, achievement of universal primary education, health care, food secure, and reduction of child mortality.
Few months ago, we had a conference devoted to service presentation. There was so much choice about different important service options that it was quite difficult to make a decision about what is most interesting for me. After long hesitation about what to choose, I have finally signed up for SOS Children’s Village.
SOS Village in Sri Lanka: http://www.soschildrensvillages.lk/

Reduction of poverty and hunger

SOS Village is an organization which takes care of children who have become orphans due to different life circumstances. If one links it to the first MDG, eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, taking these children SOS Village saves them from starvation and provides them with a decent standard of living.

Achieve universal primary education  

One can also relate SOS Village to the second MDG, achieve universal primary education. Caretakers there provide primary education for these children and not only primary. SOS Villages operate kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. As a confirmation several service appointments in the middle of December were cancelled because children had annual exams (as an academic year ends in December in the Sri Lankan public education system). 
See more at: http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/what-we-do/education                   

Health care

As was previously said SOS Village provides children with a decent standard of living and sanitation, healthy environment which ensures strong immune system and better health. Children are vaccinated against dangerous diseases and are well treated if they get ill. However, in some developing countries where the supply of medicine and health care is not well developed, there can be problems. Nonetheless basic health care is provided. Unfortunately I could not find any information about the health care in SOS Children’s Villages around the world, apart from USA.
See more at: http://www.sos-usa.org/our-impact/what-we-do/health

Food security

Food security is another important global issue which is addressed by SOS Children’s Village. The quality and quantity of food play a significant role in the development of children and directly contribute to children’s health. Even though there can be problems with food in some countries because of economic decline worldwide, SOS Children’s Villages still provide food security and sufficiency for children. These organizations do everything that is needed to provide children with adequate meals during a day.
See more at: http://www.sos-childrensvillages.org/news/food-crisis-in-20north-africa-and-middle-east

Reduction of child mortality

All above mentioned issues, such as reduction of poverty and hunger, sustainable health care and food security, contribute to reduction of child mortality. The SOS Children’s Village helps thousands of children, giving them a loving home and family. Children are given everything what they need to live a full and happy life. Children are looked after by incredibly kind, loving and caring people.
As regards our service group, we mostly participate in the physical development of children. We swim together and train them with the basic techniques. Our school is located in Sri Lanka where there is always pleasant and warm weather. Therefore, swimming sessions always take place apart from the days when there is thunderstorm or strong rain. 

Taha is playing with boys during the swimming pool session; Photo Credit: Charulatha Pitigala
Our serving group is playing and teaching children during the swimming pool session; Photo Credit: Charulatha Pitigala



Our service group is playing volleyball in the pool with the children; Photo Credit:Charulatha Pitigala
One of the boys is getting ready for the jump; 
Photo Credit: Charulatha Pitigala
Girls are 'fighting' for the ball while playing volleyball; Photo Credit: Charulatha Pitigala

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
DP Orientation Trip What? How? What for? Our grade is sliding down waterfall; Photo Credit: Unknown When I first time heard about DP Orientation Trip I was surprised... no... I was shocked! Jumping from the cliff, abseiling, rufting...All these words were just words for me before I was told that we are going to do it. My mom was shocked as well. I am not sure whether it was fear or excitement. But after I have jumped from the cliff I surprisingly fell...freedom. I imply to think that DP Orientation trip was organized mainly to rally us. We need to be united and communicate to survive during next two tough years of IB Diploma program. This trip was like a model of diploma program. We were given different extreme situations which we needed to overcome. For example, we needed to "hear" each other and row synchronically to succeed in rufting, or we needed to be very concentrated and careful, listened to what our instructors are saying, coped with panic to abseil,
Read more
CAS Final Reflection: Lessons Learned The Creativity, Action and Service (CAS) program was an important part of my IB journey. It ensured the balance between physical and mental activity, motivated me to develop new skills and escalated my confidence. The reflections posted in this blog as a part of the program helped me to track the progress and fully understand and recognize the accomplishments and achievements I have made.  In the beginning of each year I posted a set of goals I would like to achieve. Some of them were to improve my language skills, to become more confident and sociable, gain skills in different teams sports, contribute to the community service and participate in creativity events such as concerts and productions. I am happy to share that through the hard work and determination I have achieved all the goals I have posed in the beginning of each of the two years of IB program. All the CAS experiences are tied up to 8 learning outcomes such as initiati
Read more
OSC’s Got Talent! In the middle of February during the evening before Saint Valentine’s Day, I have been participating in the school’s talent show annually organized by Student Government Association in order to bring the entire school together once again, have a memorable and fun time and, of course, raise funds for school’s prompt evening. Despite organization and preparation of the event did not seem efficient in the beginning, on the night everything was well-organized and quite professional. We have gotten the judges who were teachers with different qualifications and backgrounds which brought some diversity and multiple perspectives making the final decision more reliable. We also had many more contestants and bigger audience this year which was very exciting. In the end, after all contestants performed, a special guest, newly formed teacher’s band, has performed on the auditorium’s stage for the entire school. They charged everyone who was there with energy making e
Read more