Close-up

"Close-up" offers detailed reports and special features on a whole range of topics, discusses issues and problem areas in the work of SOS Children's Villages and provides thoughtful insight and different perspectives. Glimpses at life in Latin America Economic crisis and its side-effects have left deep scars in the soul of a continent renowned for its vitality and wealth of natural beauty. Unemployment, poverty, illiteracy and violence are, for many, facts of everyday life. We look at what SOS Children's Villages is doing to strengthen families at risk and empower local communities, women and young people to gradually break out of the downward spiral of poverty and shape their own futures. Glimpses at life in Latin America SOS mother: the somewhat different career In the SOS Children's Villages, thousands of women worldwide care for children who are not their own, but who become "their" children. The SOS Children's Village mother - meanwhile a recognised profession in many countries - faces many challenges. She has to help heal where the past has left deep wounds in the children, bring in a whole range of expertise in coping with everyday life with six to ten children and find her own way in a career, which is not so everyday. SOS mother: the somewhat different career Focus on the Palestinian territories The seemingly irresolvable conflict in the Middle East has grave consequences for people's lives. Read here how the constant violence affects a child's psyche and how SOS Children's Villages co-workers, along with the children, try to cope with day to day life in this area. Focus on the Palestinian territories Spotlight Africa Above all in southern Africa, extensive sectors of the population are living in alarming conditions. Drought, mismanagement, political instability and AIDS are factors which determine and influence each other. SOS co-workers report on the current situation - in particular on the impact of AIDS and various SOS Children's Village projects supporting the people concerned. Spotlight Africa SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu, Uganda Northern Uganda, debilitated by the impacts of continuing civil war, already has difficulty in coping with an estimated total of 200,000 orphans. But the children who need help most urgently are those who have recently regained their freedom from rebel groups. SOS Children's Villages has launched an aid programme for the weakest amongst the war victims. Read about the backgrounds of the children involved in this conflict, find out the details of our relief action and how you can help. SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu, Uganda