SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country

SOS Children's Villages started operating in Ethiopia in 1974, the year of the catastrophic drought. When the government of Ethiopia called on the international community for help, SOS Children's Villages also became aware of the suffering of thousands of orphaned and abandoned children in the country. SOS Children’s Village decided to build the first SOS Children’s Village in Makalle, located in the north of the country, an area particularly affected by the famine.

Just five years later, an SOS Children’s Village was opened in Harrar and in 1981 another one in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. In 1985, Ethiopia was again hit by a drought disaster and famine. The SOS Children’s Village Makalle was able to play a strong supporting role as part of a wide-scale emergency relief programme distributing foodstuffs and providing emergency accommodation to the victims of the disaster. Further SOS Children’s Villages were built in Hwassa and Bahir Dar during the following years.

After Ethiopia was hit yet again by a drought disaster in July 2000, SOS Children's Villages Ethiopia started another emergency relief programme. This time help was provided to the people of Ogaden, the region bordering with Somalia. In the course of the relief measures, an emergency relief centre was set up in Gode, to provide primary medical care and distribute food. At the same time, the corner stone for the construction of Ethiopia’s sixth SOS Children’s Village was laid.

Almost all SOS Children’s Villages in Ethiopia have SOS Kindergartens and SOS Youth Facilities annexed to them. In order to provide access to educational facilities for children and youths from SOS Children’s Villages and their surroundings six SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary and Secondary Schools and three SOS Vocational Centres (providing training in car mechanics, carpentry, metal work, agriculture and nursing) have been built.