02/25/09 - At least 100,000 civilians are caught in the crossfire between government forces and Tamil separatists on the northeastern part of the island nation of Sri Lanka. Civil war has wracked this nation, located nineteen miles south of India, for more than two decades. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers, wish to establish an independent state. Despite the separatists' February 20th air bombing of the capital, Colombo, the government appears to be getting closer to defeating the group. The insurgents now occupy only a 34-square-mile of island territory.

The New York Times reports that the Tamil Tigers are preventing civilians from leaving the war zone. Women and children have become victims of intense fighting on both sides, filling hospitals and clinics in the area. To date, the war has killed some 70,000 people.

SOS Children's Villages in Sri Lanka

Children playing at the SOS Children's Village Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's longtime political conflict has left many children orphaned and destitute. SOS Children's Villages, the world's largest charity dedicated to giving loving homes to orphaned and abandoned children, operates five villages in Sri Lanka. The organization, founded in 1949, has had a presence on the island since 1982, shortly before the start of civil war.

In 1994, SOS opened a Children's Village in the ancient city of Anuradhapura, in north central Sri Lanka. The Children's Village in Anuradhapura contains fourteen family houses. The organization also runs a kindergarten and a social center, which provides medical care and coordinates family strengthening programs. SOS-Anuradhapura also manages an SOS youth facility and an SOS vocational training center, which offers computer courses and training in motor mechanics and welding. The SOS Children's Village in Piliyandala, twelve miles from Colombo, runs a school that educates 850 primary and secondary students. It is considered a model and is also open to children from local families.

SOS Helps Children and Families in Conflict Zones

A child at the SOS Children's Village Piliyandala in Sri Lanka

SOS is often able to respond to political and natural disasters in the countries where its villages are located. In 2003 SOS established a social center in Batticaloa, in Sri Lanka's troubled northeast. The center was an outgrowth of earlier emergency relief SOS provided to refugees from area fighting. SOS also responded to the 2004 tsunami that devastated parts of Sri Lanka, including an eastern region that was already badly affected by civil war. In January 2009, SOS helped dedicate the Al Misbah School in eastern Sri Lanka. SOS rebuilt the school after it was destroyed by the powerful tsunami.

If you would like to help a Sri Lankan child secure a warm home and a bright future, consider sponsoring a child.