SOS Children's Villages' activities in the country
Dr. Manuel Mateos Fournier, director of a mother and child clinic in Mexico City, visited the SOS Children's Village "Wienerwald" in Austria in the late 60's. Since, due to his profession, he was intimately acquainted with the difficult situation of children in need, he returned to Mexico with the idea of putting into effect the same long-term care concept in his home country. After the first contact with the founder of SOS Children's Village, Hermann Gmeiner, Dr. Fournier, was able to establish with the help of dedicated people a national SOS Children's Villages Association. In October 1971, after a construction period of one-and-a-half years, the first children were already able to settle in the SOS Children's Village in Mexico City.
The enormous population growth and the increasing exodus from the countryside in subsequent decades left visible marks on the main population centres growing at an explosive rate, especially in the poor suburbs where the infrastructure was inadequate. This situation, as well as the earthquake catastrophe in 1985 that particularly affected Mexico City, instigated the establishment of additional SOS Children's Villages and adequate care facilities.
In 1994, after a violent oppression of the indigenous guerillas in the Federal State of Chiapas, SOS Children's Villages started an emergency aid programme in Comitán in form of a social centre and a food and medical aid programme for the refugees. After the refugees had returned to their home villages, the emergency aid programme was terminated at the end of 1997.
In 2005 SOS Children’s Villages started to operate Family Strengthening Programmes, which enable children who are at risk of losing the care of their family to grow within a caring family environment. To achieve this, SOS Children’s Villages works directly with families and communities to empower them to effectively protect and care for their children, in cooperation with local authorities and other service providers.
At present there are eight SOS Children's Villages, four SOS Youth Facilities, one SOS Hermann Gmeiner School, one SOS Vocational Training Centre as well as seven SOS Social Centres.
Contact:
Website of SOS Children's Villages Mexico
(available in Spanish)