SOS Children’s Village in Port Elizabeth will be handing out brochures as well as plasters in honour of founding father, Hermann Gmeiner around Port Elizabeth from 21 to 23 June. The day will not only commemorate Hermann Gmeiner by celebrating his legacy and the 30th anniversary of SOS Children’s villages in South Africa, but also encourage communities to assist the SOS Children’s Villages in healing the lives of thousands of orphaned children.
SOS Children’s Villages was established by Hermann Gmeiner who was confronted with the isolation and suffering of the many war orphans and homeless children as a child welfare worker after the end of the Second World War. In his unswerving conviction that help can never be effective as long as the children have to grow up without a home of their own, he set about implementing his idea for SOS Children’s Villages.
With just 600 Austrian Schillings (approx. 40 US Dollars) in his pocket, Hermann Gmeiner established the SOS Children’s Village Association in 1949, and in the same year the foundation stone was laid for the first SOS Children’s Village in Imst, in the Austrian Tyrol. His work with the children and the development of the SOS Children’s Village organisation kept Hermann Gmeiner so busy that he finally decided to discontinue his medical degree studies.
In the following years, Hermann Gmeiner became the first president of the SOS Children’s Villages International in 1960 after organising the construction of villages in Austria and in many other European countries. In 1982, the SOS Children’s Villages was registered in South Africa and the first village was built in Ennerdale in 1983. 30 years later there are now eight villages and three social centres situated around the country.
In celebration of this great man and his commitment to the children, their rights and protection, SOS Children’s Village will hand out brochures, pamphlets and plasters at shopping centres around Port Elizabeth. The SOS Children’s Village Port Elizabeth staff and volunteers will be at Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket at the William Moffet Retail Centre on 21 and 22 June from 9am to 2pm. They will also handing them out in Searle Road, opposite the Village on 21 and 22 June between 7am and 8am. They will end the campaign at the Shoprite at Standford Square on 23 June from 8am to 2pm.
“Every year we celebrate Hermann Gmeiner and what his vision for a family-based care model has meant to vulnerable children throughout the world. This year it is even more special to us as it is our 30th anniversary in South Africa. We would like to put a call out to all the Port Elizabeth residents to support our cause and support the orphaned and abandoned children in Port Elizabeth,” said Werner van der Westhuizen, Village Director, SOS Children’s Villages Port Elizabeth.
The SOS Children’s Village in Port Elizabeth encourages all the residents in the Port Elizabeth to pop in to the venues and support the children as they need your help. If you can’t make it to the shopping centres, you can also make a difference by donating R30 to the SOS Children’s Villages. To donate send the word SOS to 42975.
