San Ignacio

Country information

The most recent SOS project in Paraguay, the SOS Children's Village Belén is being built in the northeastern province of Concepción. Apart from these SOS Children's Villages, there are also additional SOS facilities, like SOS Kindergartens, SOS Schools, SOS Social Centres and SOS Medical Centres which are also open to the population of the neighbouring areas. SOS Youth Houses have been installed where the youths from the SOS Children's Villages stay during their vocational and educational training in order to get used step by step to an independent life outside the SOS Children's Village. Paraguay's third SOS Children's Village was opened in 1989. San Ignacio is a small town, 225 km from the capital of Asunción and 140 km from the city of Encarnación. Many small farmers live in this area which has suffered severely from the consequences of disastrous droughts. The site of the SOS Children's Village of San Ignacio extends over 4,5 hectares and is located in the town centre. The children live in 10 family houses and attend the SOS Kindergarten or local public schools. Since local health services nearly do not exist, a large and modern SOS Medical Centre was set up, which is a very valuable facility for the poor population. The SOS Kindergarten has enough capacity for up to 150 children and is, of course, also available to the children from the surrounding area. A sports field was laid out for leisure activities.