When young people are ready to move out of the SOS families they join our SOS Youth Programme when they start vocational training or go on to higher education. With the support of qualified professionals, the young people develop perspectives for their future, learn to shoulder responsibility and increasingly make their own decisions.
There is also an SOS Mother and Staff Training Centre under construction, where future SOS mothers and co-workers will receive training before they start working with and supporting the children in our care.
SOS Children's Villages runs a number of activities in Phnom Penh: in addition to family-based care we also run a kindergarten, a school and a programme for young people. Our programmes are designed to meet the needs of the families and children who live in the area, for example our day-care services and educational programmes are much valued by the local community. Children from poor families are awarded scholarships so that they can go to school.
SOS Children's Village Phnom Penh is situated on the outskirts of the old city in an area called New Phnom Penh. The children in our care are not able to live with their families for different reasons: some have lost either one or both parents during the armed conflicts or due to illness; in other cases parents are unable to meet the children's emotional and material needs. For example, many children who join our family-based care suffer from vitamin deficiency and skin diseases. In addition to treating their malnutrition and giving them vaccinations, we provide them with tender loving care so that they can get better. These children often have not been to school at all, or only intermittently, and so we prepare them to join mainstream education.
For children whose families can no longer take care of them SOS Children's Villages provides a loving home in one of the 13 SOS families, where they grow up with their brothers and sisters and are cared for by an SOS mother. The children attend the SOS Kindergarten, where they are taught together with children from local families. To parents who have to earn a living it is very important to have professional day care for their children, so that they are not forced to leave them unattended while they are at work. Older children attend the local primary school. The school was built and run by SOS Children's Villages but has now been transferred to the local authority. The SOS Hermann Gmeiner secondary school was opened in 2010 and can educate up to 480 pupils. Both schools provide children with a sound education and help them become part of the community.
Village has 91 orphaned and abandoned children
Kindergarten caters to 109 students
419 elemetary and secondary students studying in the school
Youth facilites with 40 youth under care
National training center providing training to 356 students
Contact SOS Children’s Village Phnom Penh
Mr. Huot Vanna, Village Director
Address: 561, St SOS/Hanoi, Sangkat Phnom Penh Thmey
Khan Sen Sok, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Office: +855 23 884 215
Mobile: +855 12 978 498
Email: Vanna.Hout@soscvcambodia.org