SOS Children in Kyrgyzstan

The economic situation, created in part by Kyrgyzstan's failure to complete the transition from communism, continues to be dire. Factories remain closed, unemployment has soared and malnutrition is rife. A growing number of children live and work in the market bazaars without parental supervision, and there are increasing rates of institutionalisation and abandonment of children by parents who are unable to cope.

We began working in Kyrgyzstan in 1999 when a community was opened in the capital Bishkek. The Village, in a pine forest near Ata-Turk Park, has 14 family houses built in a circle to symbolize the sun with gardens for flowers and vegetables alongside each one. An SOS Nursery provides pre-school education for children from the Village and the neighbourhood. In 2002, an SOS School for 300 primary and secondary pupils was added to the facilities at Bishkek.

SOS Children's Village Cholpon-Ata opened in 2002 on the northern shore of Lake Issyk-Kul. The Village has 12 family houses and a four-classroom SOS Nursery for up to 80 children. A multi-purpose sports ground is used for ice-skating and hockey in the winter and baseball and football in the summer by both SOS and local children. There is also a Family Strengthening Programme to help prevent abandonment helping nearly 400 vulnerable children and their families.

SOS Children's Villages Kyrgyzstan   

Isanova street 94, flat #3    
720001 Bishkek    
Kyrgyzstan                   

Tel: +996/312/611 546, +996/312/611 547   

Fax: +996/312/611 552