Capital: Bogotá
Area: 1,141,748 km²
Population: 43.6 million (July 2006)
Ethnic groups: mestizos (of mixed Spanish and Native American ancestry), European ancestry, and mulattos (of mixed African and European ancestry).
Official language(s): Spanish
Religion(s): Roman Catholics
Currency: 1 Colombian peso = 100 centavos
SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
The Colombian National SOS Children's Village Association was founded in 1968 on the initiative of Helmut von Loebell, originally coming from Germany. In 1971, the first families were able to move into SOS Children's Village Bogotá, in the country's capital.
In 1985 there was a volcanic eruption, which left the town of Armero under a river of mud. SOS Children's Villages then built an SOS Vocational Training Centre for agricultural training and organic farming in Guayabal, about four kilometres from Armero. Young men and women who come from indigenous farming backgrounds attend it.
The country is ruled by drug trade and is constantly struck by unrest, in which people are continually losing their lives. This means that the number of orphans is particularly large. Therefore, another SOS Children's Village was built in Ibagué in 1986. The SOS Children's Village has an SOS Youth Facility and an SOS Hermann Gmeiner School attached to it. The school is open to children and youths from the neighbourhood. In order to provide homes for as many children as possible, two more SOS Children's Villages were built in Rionegro and Bucaramanga by 1998.
The youths are accommodated in SOS Youth Facilities, where there are educationalists to help them until they are able to stand on their own two feet. The SOS Social Centre in Vida in Bogotá was originally conceived for street children but today offers help and support for mothers and their children and prepares them to be able to live new, independent lives. In 1998 the SOS Vocational Training Centre for SOS mothers and co-workers went into operation in Rionegro.
A terrible earthquake struck Colombia in 1999. SOS Children's Villages of Colombia immediately started an SOS Emergency Relief Programme. Clothing, blankets, food and urgently needed medical supplies were distributed to the people. SOS Children's Village Colombia also rebuilt a kindergarten belonging to a coffee co-operative, which had been totally destroyed.
At present there are seven SOS Children’s Villages, SOS Youth Facilities at all locations, one SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, two SOS Vocational Training Centres and SOS Social Centres at ten locations.
The 500th SOS Children’s Village in Calí opened on March 2010.