Rajpura

Country information

The province of Punjab has suffered from the excesses of different terrorist groups who have been fighting for independence for many years. Innumerable acts of violence have caused great misery and left behind thousands of refugees and orphaned children. At first, some of the orphans were taken to the SOS Children's Villages near Delhi, then the provincial government of the Punjab region put a piece of land near the town of Rajpura at the disposal of SOS for the erection of an SOS Children's Village. Rajpura, which is about 250 km from Delhi, is an important trading centre for grain in the south-west of the province. The SOS Children's Village is situated on the outskirts of Rajpura, and the first eight family houses were finished in June 1996. All in all, there are 14 family houses. There is also an SOS Kindergarten, which is open to children from the neighbourhood, a multi-purpose hall and staff quarters. Schools, hospitals and other important facilities are located within a distance of 3 km. The SOS medical ward provides basic medical care for the inhabitants of the SOS Children's Village and the local population.