Photo: SOS Archives
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The SOS Children's Village in Temirtau, Kazakhstan, which went into operation in February 2004 on land donated by local authorities, will be officially inaugurated by SOS Children's Village President Helmut Kutin.
Temirtau is an impoverished industrial city with a population of 180,000, situated approximately 180 km southeast of the Kazakh capital of Astana. Unemployment rates are high in Temirtau, as are the numbers of orphaned and destitute children.
The SOS Children's Village in Temirtau is the third of its kind in Kazakhstan, and provides family-based childcare for more than 100 children in twelve family houses. An SOS Hermann Gmeiner School and SOS Social Centre in Temirtau are in the planning stages. The other SOS Children's Villages in Kazakhstan are situated in Almaty and Astana and have been in operation since 1997 and 2000 respectively.
The idea to open SOS Children's Villages in Kazakhstan stemmed from the country's first lady Sara Nazerbajeva, who had paid a visit to the SOS Children's Village Diessen while on an official state visit to Germany in 1992.