Child Sponsorship Background from Inhambane, Mozambique

SOS Children's Village Inhambane

The municipality of Inhambane is very supportive of the work of SOS Children's Villages. A suitable plot of land about two kilometres out of town was selected for the construction of the SOS Children's Village Inhambane. The land is close to the airport and the surrounding rural community is rather poor, with people mostly living in non-permanent housing.

The SOS Children's Village Inhambane consists of fifteen family houses, an administration and service area, as well as 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).  Around 180 orphaned, abandoned or neglected children live in the fifteen family houses, where their SOS mothers take loving care of them.

Other SOS Projects in Inhambane

An SOS Nursery School with three group rooms offers pre-school education to up to 90 children both from the SOS Children's Village and from the surrounding neighbourhood. They learn and play together, which greatly supports integration and mutual understanding.  1,000 children and their relatives from HIV/AIDS affected families receive direct support, skills training, counselling and medical treatment in the SOS Social Centre. Those on the AIDS outreach programme are children who have lost both parents and now live with grandparents, older siblings or other relatives, as well as those whose parents are seriously ill.  Additionally, primary and secondary school education is offered to up to 1,600 students in 24 classrooms at the SOS School.

Background to Inhambane

Inhambane is located in southern Mozambique, on Inhambane Bay, 470km northeast of Maputo.  It has a population of over 63,000 people.