São Domingos

Country information

As a result of bad climatic conditions in Cap Verde, an ever increasing rural exodus was triggered which lead to a concentration of the population around the capital Praia. Many people were forced to live on minimum spaces under unacceptable living conditions. Many children had no access to schools. The situation was aggravated by both the high birth rate and the high unemployment rate. One of the results was a constantly increasing number of abandoned and orphaned children, mainly in Praia. Owing to the excellent co-operation between SOS Children's village International and the government of Cape Verde, the idea of constructing a second SOS Children's Village in Cape Verde was born already in 1996. The second SOS Children?s Village was finally built on a donated plot of land located in São Domingos, a small community next to Praia. The SOS Children?s Village São Domingos is located on a quite steep hill, planted with trees, a few kilometres out of São Domingos. It consists of eight family houses, a Village Director?s house, a house for SOS aunts (who temporarily replace SOS mothers if need be), an administrative building and an SOS Kindergarten which also accommodates children from the neighbourhood. The tints of the paint used for the facades of the houses corresponds to the spectrum of colours one finds all over the island.