May 7 2002
Villages inaugurated in East Africa
07/05/2002 - SOS Children's Village President Helmut Kutin is currently on a tour of three East African states. During his trip, two new SOS Children's Villages are officially inaugurated in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
SOS Children's Village Bahir Dar (Ethiopia)
SOS Children's Village Arusha (Tanzania)
SOS Children's Village Bahir Dar (Ethiopia)
SOS Children's Village Bahir Dar, located in Amhara Region in the north of Ethiopia, was officially opened on 6 May. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Vice President of Amhara Region, the local Minister of Education, representatives of SOS-Kinderdorf International and Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Germany, as well as many other invited guests. The recently established village 'circus' entertained the guests with an acrobatic display.
The twelve family houses of the village which went operational in June 2000 on the banks of Lake Tana, Ethiopia's largest lake, currently accommodate 113 children. The village, which was also contains a kindergarten which educates 96 children, 61 of them from the village. An SOS Hermann Gmeiner School is under construction, an SOS Farm, which includes a vocational training centre, is located just 17 km away.
A total of 23 SOS Children's Village projects are up and running in Ethiopia. Five new facilities are currently under construction, including SOS Children's Village Gode, which began as an SOS Emergency Relief Programme in the drought-stricken region. During his visit to Ethiopia Mr Kutin also opened the SOS Hermann Gmeiner School in Mekelle, the SOS Nursing School, also in Mekelle, and the SOS Vocational Training Centre in the capital Addis Abeba.
SOS Children's Village Arusha (Tanzania)
The SOS Children's Village in Tanzanian Arusha will be the next stop for President Kutin and representatives from the Norwegian SOS Promoting Association. The SOS Children's Village, which has been in operation since mid 2000, will be officially opened on 11 May in the presence of Prime Minister Frederick Pluway Sumaye.
The village is located outside of the town of Arusha in the north of Tanzania, and includes ten family houses and a kindergarten, which is open to the local community. An SOS Hermann Gmeiner School is being planned.
SOS Children's Village Arusha is the second in Tanzania, but is the first on the country's mainland - the first SOS Children's Village, which has been operational for eleven years, is located on the Tanzanian island of Zanzibar.