SOS Children's Village Bhuj came into existence after one of the worst natural calamities of the world. The nation as a whole was shocked and grieved by the terrible tragedy in the form of an earthquake that occurred on the 51st anniversary of Indian Republic on January 26th, 2001. It is now infamously known as "death quake", which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, and had its epicenter at Latitude 23.40N and longitude 70.28E.

SOS Children's Villages of India provided immediate relief and rehabilitation support to the affected families and children after the earthquake. SOS-India also worked in partnership with the Government of Gujarat for the reconstruction of its adopted village, Kunjeysir, all of whose houses had been destroyed. Kunjeysir has been reconstructed with 59 new homes for the village families, along with a primary school, primary health-centre and community centre and has been handed over to the beneficiary villagers.

The foundation stone for a Children's Village was laid in Bhuj on 10 January 2003. The children, Mothers and the co-workers moved to the Children's Village in September 2003. The Village was dedicated to the needy children of the state of Gujarat on 17 November 2003. The Project is located on the outskirts of main city of Bhuj and is about 12 Kms from the Airport and 10 Kms from Bhuj Railway Station. The 10 acres of land of comprises of 14 family homes, a Youth House, a Primary School, a Social & Medical Centre, a library, a kindergarten, a Community hall, co-workers' residences and a village store. The Children's Village has now completed six years of dedicated service to the cause of the needy children in Gujarat as a whole and Kutch in particular.

SOS Bhuj is a happy home to 146 children at present, out of which 89 are boys and 57 are girls. 123 children are attending school. 7 children are going to the Kindergarten. 16 children are at home. In 2006, 24 needy children were brought home to the Children's Village.

SOS Children's Village, Bhuj feels proud to introduce itself as the continental example of the SMI concept. The SMI as the members of SOS Family know means, Solid, Modest and Integrated.

Youth Facility

The Children's Village has one youth facility, Arunodaya. The facility is running in an rented accommodation since 2003. At present there are 14 youngsters.

SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary School

SOS Hermann Gmeiner Primary school was started on 01 July 2005. The school has been established with an aim to impart quality education to the children not only from the Children's Village but from the community as well. At present the school has 165 students.

The Social & Medical Centre at Bhuj was established with an endeavor to provide educational and health facilities for poor and needy children. It aims at child survival and development and women empowerment through vocational training programme. Mr Klaus Ranner, the then Consul General of Germany in Mumbai laid the Foundation stone of SOS Hermann Gmeiner Medical and Social Centre, in the presence of Shri Siddhartha Kaul, Deputy Secretary General, SOS KD-Asia on 30th April 2003. The centre was inaugurated by Mr Dhirubhai Shah, Chairman, Finance Commission, Government of Gujarat on 29 October 2004. Mr Helmut Kutin, President SOS Kinderdorf International also graced the occasion.

The Social Centre has evolved into designing and implementing innovative approaches for the upliftment of the underprivileged. The programmes of the Social Centre are people oriented and worked out realistically keeping in view the practical difficulties in their effective implementation. Till now more than 80 women have been trained in the field of tailoring and handicrafts. We feel proud to mention that all of them are able to earn a dignified and decent livelihood. Presently, SOS-India is providing tailoring training to 25 women from the neighbouring communities in the Social Centre. It is a 6 months course. Apart from training, these women are also given family education from time to time to improve their family living standards.

The Medical Centre is providing health services and spreading awareness on health problems affecting the people from more than five nearby villages. Good care is also being taken of our children and mothers. At present, there is a doctor every day in the evening to take care of health related problems of both the Village and the community projects.

Under the Family Strengthening Programme, SOS-India is reaching out to thousands of underprivileged families living in neighbourhood areas of Children's Villages all over the country. In Bhuj, the Social & Medical Centre carries out the programme since early 2004 through satellite centres at nearby areas like Lakhond, Sonapuri, and Ram Nagri & Bapu Dayalu Nagri.

Under the Family Strengthening Program, 9 mothers from the nearby communities are receiving support towards education, nutrition & health of their 18 children. Besides extending help to these families, the Children's Village is also reaching out to 150 children from the neighbourhood with educational & nutritional support.