Kenya was one of the first African countries in which SOS-Kinderdorf International became active. The national association, "SOS Children's Village Association Kenya" was founded in 1971. Its aim was to help reduce the ever-increasing number of orphaned and neglected children in the country who were not receiving any support from the state. It was just one year later that the construction of the first Kenyan SOS Children's Village started in Buru Buru, a suburb of Nairobi. Over the years more SOS Children's Village facilities have been built in Nairobi, the coastal city of Mombasa, in Eldoret and in Meru. The SOS Children's Village work in Kenya has been supported by former State President Daniel T. Arap Moi since the 1970ies, he has also taken on the patronage of the SOS Children's Villages in Kenya.
Kenya, just like many other southern and eastern African countries, has been hard hit by the raging AIDS pandemic. In order to react, from 2003 on SOS Children's Villages started setting up social and medical centres in Nairobi, Eldoret and Mombasa. The social centres include Family Strengthening Programmes, which enable children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.
At present there are four SOS Children's Villages, three SOS Youth Facilities, four SOS Kindergartens, four SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools, one SOS Training Centre, four SOS Social Centres and one SOS Medical Centre in Kenya.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Kenya
(available in English)