03/04/09 - An outbreak of factional fighting in Sudan's southern city of Malakal has closed the vocational training center for former child soldiers that SOS Children's Villages has run since 2001. The training center, which currently serves about a hundred former child soldiers, was forced to shut down when fighting erupted on February 25th between the Sudanese People's Liberation Army and a group known as the Combined-Joint Forces.

As of March 2nd, calm had returned, but SOS staff fear that battles could resume any time. Warring parties are still in the area and the reasons that led to the fighting last month remain unresolved. The good news is that the former child soldiers receiving SOS assistance did not participate in the fighting and are doing well.

SOS Helps Former Child Soldiers Reintegrate Into Society

A child soldier in Sudan

SOS Children's Villages, the world's largest charity devoted to caring for orphaned and abandoned children, operates two children's villages in Sudan — one in the capital of Khartoum, and one in Malakal. The decades-long civil war has had a devastating effect on the living conditions of Sudan's children, many of whom have been forced into battle.

In Malakal, SOS cares for former child soldiers and helps them reintegrate into society. They receive food, clothing, and medical care. Staff at SOS-Malakal remove bullets from children, provide wheelchairs to those who need them, and deliver psycho-therapeutic treatment to children suffering from their war experiences. Many children are part of a football or volleyball team, or a theatre or dance group. These activities help them make friends and adjust to living peaceful lives.

Most former child soldiers have no official proof of identity, which prevents them from attending school or receiving state health care. SOS Children's Villages ensures that they obtain documents so that they can access state facilities. Many children now go to school. SOS vocational training allows former child soldiers to work as locksmiths, joiners, mechanics, electricians, tailors or masons.

A child at an SOS Social Center in Sudan

SOS staff work hard to reunite these children with their families. Relatives often want nothing to do with the war's atrocities, and they reject children who have been soldiers and are now seriously traumatized. Nonetheless, SOS has been successful in reuniting some children with their families.

During the latest violence, the United Nations Mission worked with SOS in Sudan to provide the village with water and medical assistance for children requiring immediate aid. The problem of shortages is likely to continue, however, because Malakal still lacks electricity, gasoline, and water.

If you would like to help a Sudanese boy or girl secure a warm home, a loving mother, and a bright future, consider sponsoring a child.