Child Sponsorship Background from Surkhet, Nepal

SOS Children's Village Surkhet

Situated in a small valley in the west of the country, about 700 km from the capital, Kathmandu, Nepal's fifth SOS Children's Village welcomed it's first children in 1987. Since the road from the valley to the nearest town, Nepalgunj, at a distance of 106 km, is only passable in dry weather, the SOS Children's Village is rather cut off from the outside world.

SOS Children's Village Surkhet consists of a number of family houses, the village director's house, co-workers' residences, a community centre and an administrative building.

Other SOS Projects in Surkhet

There is an SOS Social Centre with a day-care centre, where children from the neighbourhood are looked after while their parents are at work. It also offers health counselling for poor families, literacy classes for children and income-generating training workshops for women from the local community.

The SOS School consists of a nursery, a primary and a secondary school. Children from the neighbourhood can attend this school together with the SOS children. This makes life easier for the local population while it helps SOS children integrate into society later on.

An SOS Youth Home was established in Nepalgunj in 1995. Young adults from the SOS Children's Village move to the SOS Youth Home while they are still doing their education or training. The city of Nepalgunj offers them better job and education opportunities. In 1996, an SOS Social Centre including day-care centres and later, in 1999, an SOS Medical Centre for mother and child were set up in Nepalgunj.

Background to Surkhet

Surkhet is a district in Mid-Western Development Region of Nepal.  Birendranagar is the administrative headquarter of Surkhet as well as the whole Mid-Western Development Region. it is a part of Surkhet Valley, which is about 50 Square Kilometers in size. It gets its name from late king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah. It is approximately 400 kilometers west of the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu.