Helping families helps children
|
The district of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu was hit hardest by the tidal waves in India. The area, which is well-known for its fishing, saw the most deaths. Fathers did not return from sea and mothers did not return home. Pictures of ships piled up on top of each other were seen around the world. As in the other areas hit by the disaster, in Nagapattinam those affected most were families who had already been struggling to survive in tough conditions before the tsunami.
|
Children's fates depend on the fates of their families. Families in turn depend on active village communities. This was the simple logic that SOS Children's Villages applied when building multi-purpose centres and social centres and when setting up family strengthening programmes. A total of 18 community centres were built in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. They are functional buildings that, amongst others, house nurseries, schools and advice points. The houses are built in such a way that people can take refuge on their roofs if there are floods. The centres are to be handed over to the communities for them to manage themselves after a period of three to five years, during which SOS Children's Villages will be present to coordinate and give advice.
SOS Children's Villages is running new SOS Social Centres and family strengthening programmes. The centre in Nagapattinam consists of one main house and small branches. The house was built during colonial times especially for one single lunch party which never took place. It is now the "heart" of the SOS family strengthening programme in the town. Around 1,500 children benefit from the many services the centres offers.
Another important target group is young women and single mothers, many of whom are widows. The girls and women learn to sew, embroider, make candles or grow mushrooms, and how to run their own small businesses. There is IT training and extra tuition, music and dance classes for children and mechanics classes on boat engines for older boys and young men. It also provides medical care, advice on how to bring up children, workshops on children's rights, self-help groups, etc.
Every aspect of the programme aims to ensure that families manage their own lives themselves again, that the children are well-cared for and receive a proper education, that they form social networks in which families assist each other and that people take responsibility for themselves and for each other in village communities.
"I deeply missed my mother, but dancing has helped me to get over it. I've also made good friends here." - Satya, a girl from Nambiyar Nagar/Nagapattinam