Capital: Montevideo
Area: 176,215 km²
Population: 3.4 million (July 2006)
Ethnic groups: European, indigenous, and African descent
Official language(s): Spanish
Religion(s): Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish
Currency: 1 Uruguayan peso = 100 centésimos
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
Ilse Kasdorf, a woman of Austro-German descent who had grown up in Uruguay, already started to try to realise the ideas of SOS Children's Villages in Uruguay in 1959. She had read about Hermann Gmeiner's fascinating idea in a German magazine. The National SOS Children's Village Association she founded in 1960 formed the basis for her work. Consequently, Uruguay was the first Latin American country where Hermann Gmeiner's philosophy was used as a foundation for, what was then, a completely new method of child welfare. Shortly after the association was founded, it was possible to start work on the construction of the SOS Children's Village in the Montevideo area. Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay and is situated where the river Rio de la Plata flows into the South Atlantic.
The SOS Children's Village went into operation in 1964 and three years later was officially opened by Hermann Gmeiner and Ilse Kasdorf. During the 1980's, two more SOS Children's Villages were built. One was in Salto, the second largest city in the country, on the border to Argentina and the other was in Florida, a smaller town about 100 kilometres north of Montevideo. At the same time SOS Children's Villages Uruguay also broadened its scope to include youth work for the youths who had outgrown the SOS Children's Villages. All these activities were proof that the people accepted the SOS Children's Villages and that the co-operation with the authorities on both national and local levels was excellent.
Since the end of the 1990's, the work of SOS Children's Villages Uruguay has been concentrated on preventative care in both the fields of child welfare and health.
At present there are three SOS Children's Villages, three SOS Youth Facilities and seven SOS Social Centres in Uruguay.
Website of SOS Children's Villages Uruguay (available in Spanish)