Pemba

Country information

The SOS Children's Village Pemba is located at the outskirts of Pemba, where a 20 hectares plot of land with electricity and water utility was made available to SOS free of charge. In the surroundings of this property five former villages were integrated into the urban area of Pemba without losing their rural character. The population mostly depends on fishery and is very poor. Since there were scarcely any schools or hospitals in the area, the facilities affiliated to the SOS Children's Village Pemba were happily accepted by the people from the neighbourhood, contributing tremendously to the integration and acceptance of the SOS Children's Village. The architecture is well integrated in the local style, and local construction material was used whenever possible. In Pemba the construction work for the new SOS Children's Village started in spring 1998. It has 15 family houses for 180 children, a SOS kindergarten for 150 children and a SOS School (Primary and Secondary School with 24 classrooms) for a total of about 1500 pupils. In summer 2002 a SOS Social Centre was added, offering basic preschool and vaccination programmes, literacy courses, HIV/AIDS awareness programmes, etc.