SOS Children's Village Callao is situated at the town of the same name near Lima. This town is mainly populated by families with low income. The unemployment rate is rather high, and so is the number of single mothers. The difficult living conditions are reflected in the large number of social orphans among children younger than ten, who have been abandoned by their parents for economic or social reasons. This is why SOS-Kinderdorf International decided to build an SOS Children's Village at Callao.
The SOS Children's Village was built on a 5-acre property, which was donated to SOS Children's Villages of Peru by the archbishop of Lima. It consists of twelve family houses, where up to 108 children can find a new home, the village director's house, a house for the so-called SOS aunts (SOS mother trainees or family helpers who support the SOS mothers during their daily work and fill in for them when they are ill or on leave), an administration and service area, and a guest house for SOS Children's Village co-workers who participate in training workshops or who come to SOS Children's Village Callao on business.
There is also an SOS Social Centre, which is open to the local community. Its programmes have been specially adapted to the people's needs. The main aim is to alleviate hardship and thereby prevent destitute families from abandoning their children. The SOS Social Centre runs a day-care facility where pre-school children are looked after during the whole day. This makes it possible for the children's mothers, most of whom are single mothers, to go to work and make a living for themselves and for their children. In addition to that, the SOS Social Centre offers information workshops and evening classes for adults, and provides basic health care to destitute people.
The SOS Social Centre consists of several day-care rooms with specially equipped rooms for infants, a dining hall, a kitchen with a pantry, and a laundry. It includes classrooms for evening classes, offices for administration, a meeting room, the caretaker's flat and a store-room. A paediatrician and a dentist have their offices at the Centre, and there is a waiting room for their patients. The nurse who works at the centre also distributes medicine. All in all, about 520 people benefit from the various programmes of the Social Centre each day.