02/19/09 - Speaking to the Western press for the first time since his election as Somalia's new president, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said he has asked militant groups to abandon their weapons and help rebuild the country after nearly two decades of civil war. One such group, Al Shabab, still dominates parts of Somalia. Because of the nation's shaky security situation, the Somalia government has been based in neighboring Djibouti. But President Ahmed plans to head home in a matter of weeks. Enabling more than a million internal refugees to return to their homes is one of his top priorities.

Somalia has been wracked by civil war and lawlessness since 1990. Somalia's children have been the innocent victims of clan-based violence, leaving many of them orphans or homeless. SOS Children's Villages, the world's largest charity devoted to providing loving homes for orphaned and abandoned children, has had a presence in Somalia since 1983. Its children's village in the capital of Mogadishu provides a stable home and community for orphaned Somalian children, and a kindergarten that accommodates 120 children from the SOS Children's Village and its neighborhood.

When Somalia's civil war first broke out in 1990, SOS quickly launched an emergency relief and food program. It converted its SOS school into an emergency clinic that treated adults and children injured in the war. To date, the clinic remains the only functioning maternity ward and gynecological facility in the country. SOS also runs a vocational training center, where youths can take a three-year course to become state-certified nurses or midwives.

For the last two years, the area around the SOS Children's Village at Mogadishu had seen heavy fighting between Ethiopian troops and local insurgents. In late 2007, village families were moved out after two houses received direct hits and one SOS family assistant was killed. Since then, children and mothers have been living in safer parts of the city. SOS-Mogadishu decided it was safe to start moving SOS families back to the village on February 21. Many of the family houses have now been renovated after crossfire-inflicted damage. Village director Osman Sheikh is hopeful that Mogadishu is slowly returning to the relative peace that had been achieved before the Ethiopians moved into Mogadishu. "We pray to keep this city and the whole country peaceful," he said.

If you would like to secure a warm home and a bright future for a Somalian boy or girl, consider sponsoring a child.