Child Sponsorship Background from Samneua, Laos

SOS Children's Village Samneua

The province of Houa Phanh, bordering Vietnam, is one of the poorest of the country. Per capita income of the province's 300,000 inhabitants is about one third of that of the whole country.

In many places, it is still possible to see the destruction caused by decades of war with France and the U.S.  A lack of government resources means there are hardly any facilities for the support of children in need, with the exception of one residential school for ethnic minority children.

The SOS Children's Village in the province capital of Samneua is the fifth one in Laos.

It consists of family homes, a house for the SOS aunts (family helpers who support the SOS mothers), a community house and the necessary administrative buildings.

Other SOS Projects in Samneua

There is an SOS Nursery School with three classrooms, a multi-purpose hall and a playground for 120 children from the SOS Children's Village as well as from the local community.  By looking after their children during the day, SOS Children's Villages enables local mothers to work full time and to earn some money for their families.

In SOS Primary and Secondary School was opened in January 2006.  This school has classrooms, a library and an administration area.

In 2002, SOS Children's Villages Laos launched its family strengthening programmes.  These programmes are intended to support families at risk of abandoning their children and to encourage families to stay together.  SOS Children therefore works with local authorities and other service providers to support families and enable them to take good care of their children.

In Samneua, the family strengthening programme focuses on primary health care and sanitation for people of all ages from the neighbourhood of the SOS Children's Village.  A room of the SOS Nursery School building has been set apart for the family strengthening programme.  In addition to that, two family homes of the SOS Children's Village are used for temporary accommodation of malnourished local children.

Background to Samneua

Samneua can be translated as "northern swamp", it is the capital city of Houaphan Province, Laos, which is located in the northeast of the country.  It is one of the country's least visited provincial capitals and the population is made up of Laos, Vietnamese and Hmong, along with some Thai Dam, Thai Daeng and Thai Lu.