Child Sponsorship background from Dren, Bulgaria

SOS Children's Village Dren

The SOS Children's Village Dren was built on a site covering 2.8 hectares on a hill above the village, and is surrounded by forests and vegetable gardens. The official opening ceremony took place on 29 June 1996 in the presence of the Bulgarian minister of education and numerous other honorary guests.

The SOS Children's Village Dren consists of thirteen family houses (with a capacity for up to 91 children), a community building, a workshop, an administration and service area, and houses for the village director and the SOS aunts (who support the SOS mothers and take care of the children when the mothers are on leave).

SOS Children's Village Dren is the second community built in Bulgaria.

Other SOS Projects in Dren

A sports and playground has already been laid out and the village also includes an SOS Nursery where up to forty children can be looked after in three group rooms. In order to support poor families and elderly people in the neighbourhood, a community outreach programme has been initiated. An SOS Youth Home in Sofia accommodates the youths during their vocational training or higher education in order to prepare them for an independent life outside the SOS Children's Village.

Background to Dren

The village of Dren has approximately 2,000 inhabitants and is situated about 45 kilometres south-west of Sofia, in a very attractive spot in a densely wooded part of the country. An artists' colony had been founded there several years before. In Dren there is a public primary school, a college for folk art and also one for tailoring. The nearby provincial capital of Radomir offers good secondary schooling.