Child Sponsorship background from Phuket, Thailand

SOS Children's Village Phuket

Phuket is a major city on the south-eastern coast of the island of Phuket Province. Our Village here is relatively new and was established in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami of December 2004 to help children left alone by the disaster.

Emergency relief

The disastrous Boxing Day tsunami of 2004 killed over 280,000 people in coastal areas all around the Indian Ocean. In Thailand, many children were left without parents after the waves struck.

SOS Children acted immediately to provide emergency relief to help both adults and children who had lost their homes, families or livelihoods. We began by prioritising medical care, food and shelter to ensure people had the necessities needed to survive the crisis.

Building a new Village in Phuket

Next, we focused our efforts on matching up lost children with any surviving relatives able to care for them. Because many children were still alone, we decided to build a new SOS Children’s Village at Phuket to give these children a loving family and somewhere to live.

At the same time, we helped reconstruct private houses and public buildings, and gave fisherman back the boats and tools they needed to support their way of life.

Helping children grow

Our Village in Phuket gives children who have lost their families a safe place to grow up, nurtured by a loving SOS mother and surrounded by friends. Many of these children continue to live in the aftermath of the tsunami, and we are helping them recover from the trauma of losing everything in a sudden and horrifying way.

An SOS Nursery provides schooling to young children from the Village and the surrounding area. We also train young adults for work and offer higher education courses to those who want to pursue their studies. We also support them in their transition to adult life, helping them come to terms with the responsibilities of independence.

Our work enables children to grow up and return to their communities as successful adults after one to the most deeply troubling experiences imaginable.