Child Sponsorship background from Jos, Nigeria

SOS Children's Village Jos

SOS Children's Village Jos has been built on a site of about four hectares of land. It includes twelve family houses, the village director's house, administration buildings and a house for the SOS aunts (SOS mother trainees or family helpers who support the SOS mothers) and can take in up to 120 children.

Other projects in Jos

The SOS Nursery and the SOS School are open to both children from the SOS Children's Village and the children from the neighbourhood. The SOS Nursery consists of three classrooms for up to 75 children. The SOS Primary School comprises six classrooms, classrooms for special and practical education, an administration office, a computer-room, and a canteen.  At this school, up to 210 children can be taught.

An SOS Social Centre was built on the premises of the village with the goal of providing the people in the neighbourhood with medical care, informing them about local prevention measures, providing troubled families with social and material assistance and offering counselling on topics of education for children and career guidance for parents. Created with the goal in mind of strengthening families against poverty, this programme is run in co-operation with the local authorities.

Background to Jos

Jos is situated in central Nigeria and has a population of about 900,000. The city is the capital of the Plateau state, which is well-known as the 'The Home of Peace and Tourism'. Yet this brilliant image has been fading since the recurring inter-faith conflict emerged, which left thousands dead within the last 10 years and produced hundreds of abandoned and orphaned children.

Facing the situation, SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria considered the urgency and decided to establish a programme in Jos – one of the main theatres of conflict – in order, first, to help the children (them being the biggest victims of the conflict) and, second, as part of a process of raising awareness on this far-reaching issue.