History

The oldest SOS Children's Village of the world is located in Imst - Photo: A. Gabriel Pioneer in the field of child care In 1949 an Austrian medical student, , built the first SOS Children's Village in Imst in Austria to provide children orphaned and abandoned by the war with a mother, a family, a house and a village. The first house was named the "House of Peace". At the time, no-one imagined how successful his idea would become across the world. Now, over fifty years later, the prototype village he established in Imst and his concept of child-care has become a model for all nations. More than a symbolic gesture: A Korean boy presents grains of rice to - Photo: SOS Archives Europe and beyond By 1960 the SOS Children's Village concept was flourishing. There were now ten SOS Children's Villages and a hundred SOS families, supported by the regular financial contributions of one million friends. SOS Children's Villages associations had been established in France, Germany, Finland, Belgium and Luxembourg. SOS-Kinderdorf International was set up in Strasbourg as the umbrella organisation for SOS Children's Villages with as president. In the next ten years, the activities spread beyond Europe. The first non-European SOS Children's Village was built in Daegu in Korea in 1963 with funds raised by the famous "Grain of Rice" campaign. Other countries in Asia followed, as well as Latin America, with the first villages in Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. At the end of the 1960s, the largest SOS Children's Village in the world was built in Go Vap in Vietnam. By 1969 there were 68 SOS Children's Villages; 39 in Europe, 15 in Latin America and 14 in Asia. In 1968, the British Friends of SOS Children's Villages held their first meeting at the Austrian Embassy in London, with the aim of raising funds for the worldwide work of SOS Children's Villages. This was the beginning of SOS Children's Villages UK. Four million friends In 1970, Ivory Coast became the first African country to become a member of SOS-Kinderdorf International, followed by Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Sierra Leone. During the International Year of the Child in 1979, thirty new SOS Children's Villages were opened. In Paraguay, the first SOS hospital opened in Hohenau. By the end of the 1970s, over four million people were supporting 143 SOS Children's Villages in 60 countries. A lasting legacy died on 26 April 1986. His legacy was 233 SOS Children's Villages in 86 countries. In 1987, the first SOS Children's Villages opened in China. Two years later, a village was built in the USA, in Coconut Creek in Florida. The first SOS Children's Village opened in Armenia, in what was then still the Soviet Union, in response to the 1988 earthquake. 50 years on; the need continues With the end of the cold war at the beginning of the 1990s, expansion of the work of SOS Children's Villages in Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic where facilities had already been set up in 1968, became possible. SOS Children's Villages associations were founded in Russia and Poland, and new projects planned in Bulgaria and Romania. Today, SOS Children's Villages is active in most countries in eastern Europe and central Asia, including Mongolia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. In 1995 SOS-Kinderdorf International was classified as an "NGO with consultative status (category II) with the Economics and Social Council of the United Nations". With the opening of the first SOS Children's Village in Adelaide, Australia in 1996, SOS Children's Villages became active in all of the world's continents. In 1999, when the 50th anniversary of the first SOS Children's Village was celebrated in Imst, there were 400 SOS Children's Villages, 375 youth facilities and 750 medical and social facilities across the world. View of the SOS Children's Village in Lhasa, Autonomous Province of Tibet - Photo: SOS Archives A new millennium; the work goes on In 2000 new SOS Children's Villages were built in Macedonia, Cambodia and Mongolia. Emergency relief programmes continued, both large scale such as in Gode in Ethiopia and smaller, local initiatives. More than twenty new SOS Children's Villages facilities were inaugurated in Latin America in 2001. New SOS Children's Villages opened in Kosovo, in Rafah in the Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) and in Lhasa (Autonomous Province of Tibet). In 2002, new villages opened in Argentina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Macedonia, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, Pakistan and Swaziland. Construction began on villages in Chad and Benin.