Capital: Windhoek
Area: 825,418 km²
Population: 2 millions (Juli 2005 est.)
Ethnic groups: African descent, European, mixed descent
Official language(s): English
Religion(s): Christian, traditional local faiths
Currency: 1 Namibian dollar = 100 cents / 1 South African rand = 100 cents

SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country

In the seventies and eighties Namibia became a 'safe haven' for war refugees and victims from neigh-bouring Angola. This development resulted in an increasing number of orphaned and neglected children and upon the request of the "Rotary Club of Windhoek", SOS-Kinderdorf International decided to become active in Namibia in 1982. The local association "SOS Children's Village Association of Namibia" was founded in April 1984 and in the very same year it was possible to begin with the building of the first SOS Children's Village in Khomasdal, a suburb of the capital Windhoek inhabited mainly by coloured people. In December 1991, an official government agreement between the Republic of Namibia and SOS Children's Villages Namibia was signed. In the course of the years additional SOS Children's Village Facilities were established in Windhoek and in Tsumeb in the north of the country.

SOS Children's Villages and the "Helmut Bleks Stiftung" have been cooperating since 1995. Interested SOS youths from Southern Africa are given the opportunity to complete a two-year vocational training in the hotel and service industry in the "Baumgartsbrunn Training Centre".

SOS Namibia has been responding to the orphan crisis, that sub-Saharan Africa is currently facing due to HIV/AIDS, with the establishment of family strengthening programmes. These programmes aim to catch children before they fall out of their family and community. This is done by supporting families to strengthen their ability to care for their children. SOS Children's Villages Namibia supports children that have already lost one or both parents and thus live in an orphan household (often headed by a grandparent or other relatives) or children that live with a terminally-ill parent.

At present there are two SOS Children's Villages, two SOS Youth Facilities, two SOS Kindergartens, one SOS Hermann Gmeiner School and two SOS Social Centres (family strengthening programmes) in Namibia.

Contact:
SOS Children's Village Association of Namibia
P.O.Box 23134
9000 - Windhoek
Namibia
tel. +264-61-22 24 57
fax +264-61-22 40 85