SOS Children’s Villages Provides Emergency Relief for Niger’s Children

June 22, 2010: Niger, a poor, arid African country north of Nigeria, is facing a looming famine that could leave more than half of its 13 million people hungry. Almost half of that nation’s population comprises children under age 15. SOS Children’s Villages has been raising orphaned and abandoned children in Niger since 1993. In keeping with its mission to save Niger’s vulnerable children and strengthen families devastated by poverty and HIV/AIDS, SOS is distributing food that will reach 10,000 children and families by September 2010. The SOS Emergency Relief Program will target Tahoua, Niger’s interior agricultural region. That area, roughly 250 miles northeast of the capital, Niamey, is home to some 870,000 people who are at risk of being moderately or severely affected by the famine.

SOS has two Children’s Villages in Niger — one in Niamey and one in Tahoua. A third village, in Dosso, is under construction. Niger’s high rate of HIV/AIDS has produced many children without homes or parental care. In determining which households to support in its emergency relief program, SOS Children’s Villages will include families raising children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other diseases, those headed by a woman, and those raising children with physical or mental handicaps. Besides distributing badly needed food to affected families, SOS will also offer medical treatment for conditions caused by malnutrition. The goal of the SOS Emergency Relief Program is to implement a system of food banks that encourages self-sufficiency in times of hardship and prevents the explosion of food prices during shortages.

The emergency relief efforts that SOS Children’s Villages undertakes in the countries in which it works benefit greatly from the trust and the extensive local contacts that SOS develops on the ground over time. Vulnerable children in Niger find love, food, medicine, and classrooms at two SOS Children’s Villages. So, too, do needy neighbourhood children and families who attend SOS schools and receive its AIDS-prevention counselling services. Help SOS give hope to children whose lives are threatened by famine. Donate to support the SOS Children’s Villages Emergency Relief Program in Niger and around the world.