SOS Đà Nẵng village nurses orphans and abandoned children

Children and teachers of Đà Nẵng SOS Village join a photo session on the 30th anniversary of the village. It's one of the most successful centres providing a full programme of nursery, education and vocational training for orphans and abandoned children. VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — SOS Đà Nẵng Children’s Village has provided homes, nursery and education for 526 orphans and abandoned children, of which 236 grew up and had their own families since it was founded in 1994.

Director of the village, Lê Nguyễn Hạnh Nguyên said at the 30th anniversary of the village that three programmes had been built in the village in expanding community supports, vocational training and improving livelihood for thousands other children and families living in 17 districts in Đà Nẵng and Quảng Nam province.

Hạnh said the village’s Family Support Programme has given assistance for 1,300 children, in which 80 per cent had graduated from school and found jobs, in the community since 2005.

“The village had provided free vocational programmes for 114 poor teenagers between 2011-18, while funding scholarships for 57 underprivileged boys and 44 members had completed university education,” Nguyên said.

School students at SOS Đà Nẵng village perform on the 30th anniversary celebration. 526 orphans and abandoned children have been given care and education since 1994. VNS Photo Công Thành

“A kindergarten in the village often offers nursery and care for 150 to 200 children in the village and living quarters since 1995,” she said.

Nguyên said the village expanded support programmes to provide total loans of 692 million (US$27,700) to help 36 families improve livelihoods since 2018.

The SOS village’s Hermann Gmeiner School with its 25 classrooms, laboratories, a library and a canteen often offers classes up to the secondary level. Meanwhile, kindergarten and school in the village are open to children from outside living quarters of Mỹ An, Khuê Mỹ, Hòa Quý in Ngũ Hành Sơn district, she added.

It’s one of the most successful SOS village among 17 villages nationwide as it supplies support programmes for children in the village and community as well.

It’s one of non-state owned centres in Đà Nẵng operating with donations from domestic and international donors in providing full programme of nursery, accommodation, education, vocational training and poor families’ livelihood support. VNS