Moments of Happy Childhood on the island of SOS Children's Villages
The world of Second Life offers nonprofits a powerful interactive way to reach and mobilize the public. Although the general hype about Second Life may be over, SOS Children’s Villages wants to grasp every opportunity to raise awareness on the importance of providing children with a happy childhood. Many children are all alone, have no secure foundation of a loving family, or are at risk of losing their family.
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| Avatar in Second Life |
The aim of our virtual appearance is to address what to many people is a rather abstract concept or may already be forgotten, and to “take” them on a virtual trip so they can be reminded of how important it is to lead a happy childhood. Through Happy Childhood Island, SOS Children’s Villages wants to reach out to a new audience, raise awareness, inspire people to become active, and produce a tangible impact.
What is new about this Second Life appearance is that visitors don’t receive ready-made things to use. The visitors have to be creative themselves. As a starting point, some hints for ideas are already posted on the Happy Childhood Island on billboards.
There is the challenge and opportunity for all visitors to build things modelled along the following topic: "Happy moments in childhood”. This is how all visitors to the island may re-live these happy feelings of childhood.
Examples for such experiences may be: learning to ride a bicycle, playing in a sandbox, building a tree house, and sitting on a merry-go-round …
Avatar sitting on a playgroundBut not all children are that fortunate - many of them have been abandoned. Visitors should also go inside the House of Peace where, through videos, billboards and note cards, they can interactively learn about what SOS Children’s Villages does to help abandoned children and children being at risk of being abandoned. Moreover, visitors can make their contribution to give these children hope directly via an international donation and sponsorship gateway.
SOS Children’s Villages is expecting a virtual community to get just as much involved as a real community to help children in need.