SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country

Whilst Mr Agus Prawoto, an Indonesian, was studying in Austria in 1969, he got to know the SOS Children's Village idea and facilities very well. Impressed by the concept and attracted by the happy atmosphere in the SOS Children's Villages he wanted to give orphaned and abandoned children in his home country also the chance to grow up in the security of an SOS Children's Village. After returning to Indonesia in 1970, Agus Prawoto immediately started with the preparations for the founding of the first SOS Children's Village in Lembang, 16 km north of Bandung on West Java. The national association, SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia, was founded in 1971 and the first families were able to move into their new homes in September 1972.

Over the years a number of SOS Children's Villages and attached facilities for underprivileged children and youths were established in other regions of the island state. Thus, facilities were built on Java in the capital of Jakarta as well as in Semarang, on Bali in Tabanan, and – following relief measures after a tsunami in 1992 - in Maumere, on the island of Flores. Heavy conflicts between Indonesian troops and independence fighters in East Timor led SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia to set up an SOS Emergency Relief Programme in 1999. More than 100 refugees from an orphanage in the capital of East Timor, Dili, were brought to safety in SOS Children's Village Flores where they remained for the duration of the war.

On 26 December 2004 an earthquake just off the coast of Sumatra with a magnitude of 9.3 caused a series of lethal tsunamis throughout the Indian Ocean coastal areas. The north-western coast of Sumatra was worst hit, there more than 100,000 people died. SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia had no facilities on the island at the time, but did not hesitate to provide under most difficult circumstances immediate emergency relief measures to traumatized children and homeless families. This was followed by the construction of more than 500 private houses and several community centres for local communities near Banda Aceh and Meulaboh. Generous donations and close cooperation with the local authorities led to the establishment of three SOS Children’s Villages and adjacent Kindergarten, to become operational during the course of 2007.

2005 saw the beginning of the first SOS Family Strengthening Programmes so that children at risk can stay in the caring environment of their own biological family. To achieve this, SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers. 

In 2006 a strong earthquake hit the town of Yogyakarta and SOS Youth Facility Timoho provided emergency relief for the victims and still maintains family strengthening in the area. In 2007 Jakarta experienced a major flood and again SOS Desa Taruna Indonesia provided emergency relief measures.

At present there are eight SOS Children's Villages in Indonesia, five SOS Youth Facilities, eight SOS Kindergartens, one SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, two SOS Vocational Training Centres, and nine SOS Social Centres.