SOS Children’s Villages in Sri Lanka: A beacon of lasting hope

bucket - SOS Village in Moneragala

bucket - SOS Village in Nuwara Eliya

In 1949, many children were orphaned and left destitute after the horrors of World War II. Driven by the need and desire to help them be a part of a loving family extending towards a supportive community, Herman Gmeiner, a conscientious child welfare worker, founded the first SOS Children’s Village in Tyrol, Austria. 

This somewhat revolutionary but deeply inspiring vision of providing a loving, family-based care method for children without parental care, and for enabling families to stay together so they can care for their children, has grown steadily over the past six decades. 

At present, SOS Children’s Villages International is active in 134 countries and territories around the world, helping hundreds of thousands of children each year through family-based alternative care, schools, health centers, family strengthening programmes, and other community-based work.

The first village was established in Piliyandala on 20 January 1982, in the presence of Founder Father of SOS Children’s Villages Hermann Gmeiner together with the attendance of Government Ministers Ashoka Karunarathne and Dharmasena Attygalle. 

Today in total, there are six villages in Sri Lanka, located in Moneragala, Jaffna, Nuwara Eliya, Anuradhapura, Galle and Piliyandala. 

Similar to the first-ever Village established all those years ago in Austria, the most recent village in Jaffna, originally a temporary care camp to support the victims and the children affected by the war in the Northern Province, was officially opened and dedicated on 5 January 2014 and is now a fully-functional SOS Children’s Village. 

SOS Children’s Villages strongly believe that every child needs a loving home.  Therefore, their island-wide presence empowers them to work for children who are orphaned, abandoned or neglected. Whilst harnessing their individual abilities, interests and talents, all children receive a well-rounded education and skills’ training that enables them to be contributing members of the community and society at large.  

SOS Children’s Villages considers the child as its main focus and priority, if part of the Village or living elsewhere. The ‘Family Strengthening Programme’ supports disadvantaged families in the surrounding communities to prevent a situation or predicament that can lead to children being placed in out-of-home care, so they are better able to manage their lives self-sufficiently and care for their children.

This amazing organisation has endured and thrived throughout the years due to the generosity and support of donors big and small. As stated by Dr. Gmeiner: “It was only thanks to the support of millions of people that it had been possible to achieve the goal of providing abandoned children with a permanent home, and that still applies today.”

With every sponsorship or donation, a life is saved, a dream realised and the all-encompassing vision of a humble man with great vision and foresight is fulfilled.