In May 1991, the first group of children were admitted to the Village where they quickly settled into their beautiful new homes. The Village is now home to 120 children and over 30 youth, while the School has extended from primary to secondary education level with a capacity of 450 students. The Kindergarten has a capacity of 90 pupils, while the outpatient Medical Centre attends to an average of 30-40 patients a day, providing curative, preventive and community health care.

In September 2002 construction of a second SOS Children’s Village was completed in Entebbe. Located at Abaita Babiri on a 9-acre site, 4 km from Entebbe town on the Kampala highway, the new village will become home to another 120 children, while the kindergarten will cater for 90 children. A National Office is present on the same site.

In late 2002, SOS initiated an emergency relief project in Gulu, northern Uganda. The project aims at strengthening the coping capacities of war-affected youth in Gulu, in positively dealing with their present and future lives, and alleviating the desperate situation of children displaced from their families by years of rebel activity. The youth shall be mobilised and provided opportunities to rehabilitate psychosocial aspects of their lives, and to acquire skills to help them cope with life following their contact with the war situation. Currently, the project comprises a temporary SOS Children’s Village but future plans include a permanent Village, an emergency Medical Centre, a tented camp for displaced children, and a community Social Centre.

During 2001 SOS Uganda celebrated its 10th Anniversary, looking back on several years of proud achievement, and many challenges to come.

Objectives:
Enhance Life and Standards in the Children’s Villages:

• Provide adequate support, and ensuring that standards are continually improved both at work and on physical facilities. Regular visits and meetings shall be made.

• Children’s Village: Motivate good practices in family care and household upkeep. Also make the position of Mother Representative more functional amongst our SOS Mothers in order to seek out real issues and solutions.

• Youth Homes: Build a team amongst Youth Leaders and Village Educators by integrating their activities, in order to enhance their collective participation in educational and other matters at the Village. Establish and regularly review quarterly activity programmes for the youth, in order to track youth development activities more effectively. Develop an information database for training, job placements and other opportunities for our youth.