SOS Youth Homes
SOS Children's Villages understands the importance of local customs and traditions. While it is appropriate for young children, both boys and girls, to live and grow up together as a family, it is also important to enable both boys and girls to become more mature and independent, especially during adolescence.
When our children reach the age of 11- 12, boys are sent to a specially built 'Youth Home.' Creating distance and separating the boys and girls at this stage is important, both for cultural reasons as well as for their healthy mental development. The Youth homes are an essential part of SOS and are maintained by a Youth Home director.
In the Youth Home, the boys start to live more independently, like brothers among one another. New bonds are built where the older boys mentor and even tutor the younger boys, helping them with their studies and other issues. The boys also understand that they will soon be grown-ups with a good education and a job and eventually go into the world to live independently and build their future.
Constant career counseling, sports events, and other extracurricular activities help the development of these boys into successful young adults. Even though a distance is created when the boys are moved to a Youth Home, they are allowed to regularly visit the Children's Village to meet their siblings and 'mothers'.