January Round Up

Stepping into 2020 a new year, a new decade, and the first right steps! The year began with the presence of our esteemed guests from Iceland and Norway who imparted important life lessons into the lives of our children. Child Parliament was introduced by SOS CV Varanasi along with UNICEF and others stakeholders. Sandhana proved to be a role model for many children who are less privileged in life to dream big. UN General Assembly’s Third Committee finalized negotiations and adopted its annual resolution on the Rights of the Child. SOS India and Radisson Hotel Group came together for a Social Responsibility event. 

Guests from SOS Norway, SOS Iceland and Norwegian Embassy visited Faridabad & Greenfields village 

In the second week of January, SOS Children’s Villages of India was fortunate to have Mr. Kristjan Davidsson, Chairperson of SOS Iceland and Ms. Bente Lier, Managing Director of SOS Norway our esteemed guests who interacted with our youths during their visit at SOS CV Greenfields. They had an intimate session with the youths and shared key insights from their lives on how to be successful. They even shared their experiences about life and encouraged the children to follow their passion for a successful future. The ambassador of the Norwegian Embassy – Mr. Hans Jacob Frydenlund also showed support towards SOS India by visiting the Faridabad village.

SOS CV Varanasi along with UNICEF and other stakeholders introduced Bal Sansad

Strengthening children who are the future of our country is need of the hour. Keeping the same thought in mind, SOS Children’s Village Varanasi along with UNICEF and other stakeholders like Police/Child Line/CWC/ Beti Padho Beti Bacho district team, etc. had taken an initiative to introduce Bal Sansad in all the eight blocks of Varanasi. The idea was to bring children together and strengthen their voice and leadership in-order to prompt their attention towards issues that affect children directly or indirectly. There was a session with children inculcating the importance of electoral process along with why it is important to cast their vote as they reach 18 years of age and how these votes play an important for each citizen of the nation.

Sandhana wins Gold and Silver medals at 8th National Deaf Junior & Sub Junior Sports Championship

Tragedy stuck when Sandhana, lost her hearing at a very young age due to an infection. Belonging to an economically backward family, her health issues continued and her parents tried their level best to recover her hearing abilities but sadly it couldn’t happen. But both Sandhana and her parents didn’t give up! Sandhana presently part of our Family Strengthening Programme is a role model for many children who are less privileged in life to dream big and achieve success. She concurred Gold medal in Long Jump and Silver medal in 100M race under the 14 Years Girls category at 8th National Deaf Junior & Sub Junior Sports Championship held at Olympian Rahman Stadium in Kozhikode, Kerala. Tragedy stuck when Sandhana, lost her hearing at a very young age due to an infection.

UN adopts Rights of the Child Resolution with a focus on children without parental care

UN General Assembly’s Third Committee finalized negotiations and adopted its annual resolution on the Rights of the Child (A/RES/74/21) on 18th November, 2019. This year, the resolution focuses on one of the world’s most vulnerable populations – children without parental care. The resolution mainly emphasis on providing a range of alternative care options which will ultimately help SOS Children’s Villages of India to innovate its programmes and services. This will help SOS India highlight the necessities of adolescents transitioning out of the care system. Recognises the importance of guidance, counselling, access to employment, education, training, psycho-social care and after care services. It’s an opportunity to build on the need of the governments for knowledge and good practices on serving young people.

HSBC Vocational Training candidates conduct a medical camp at SOS CV Hyderabad

Insuring that all the children from SOS India are part of regular health check-ups, HSBC Vocational Training candidates from Royal Paramedical College along with their lecturers, other physicians, the Village Director and other staff members managed to conduct a successful medical camp at our children’s village in Hyderabad. 90 children and mothers participated in the camp and underwent tests in general medical check-up, dental check-up, ophthalmology testes and physiotherapy. During the camp, everyone present was briefed about SOS Children’s Villages of India and its various operations.

Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) training held at three FSP Bhopal locations

On 19th and 20th January, a WASH training was organised at Aredi, Tanda and Sakal villages under our Family Strengthening Programme in Bhopal for the community children along with our Bal Panchayat members. Two full days of activities in the form of discussions, games and quiz were organised to train the children and parents about the importance of water, sanitation and hygiene. Activities were mainly related to the following topics – Awareness on issues related to WASH; Capacity building of Bal Panchayat for futuristic and sustainable development in villages; and Addressing WASH problems and their solutions for village.

Radisson Hotel Group launches a charitable initiative “Make a difference” with SOS International

The charitable initiative “Make a difference” aims to provide education and uplift the lives of children under the care of SOS Children’s Villages of India. Radisson Hotel Group team was touched to see the love, respect, and protection that SOS Children’s Villages of India extends to the parentless and abandoned children through their unique child care programme Family Like Care during their visit to Greenfields village. A thrilling football match was organized between children and RHG members, followed by two dance performances and some insane yoga poses by our young yoga masters. The overall visit was a huge success as the RHG members enjoyed their day with our children who surprised them with their talent.

National Girl Child Day celebration – FSP Bhubaneswar

On 24th January, Family Strengthening Programme Bhubaneswar conducted two programs at two of its locations celebrating “National Girl Child Day”. In Dalua location around 150 children gathered participating in quiz, debate and songs highlighting the theme and importance of girl child. The gender disparity and negligence to a girl child was highly focused and the sensitization was done on the equality and better care for the girl children. In Nodhara, one of the severely backward tribal community, active participation in the forum discussing g on the rights and equality for the girl child was conducted. Overall, both the events were meaningful and helpful for the cause of rights, equality and protection of the girl children.