Puducherry Town is the headquarter of the Puducherry province which comprises of Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe - four widely separated towns, the first two enclaves in Tamil Nadu, the other two enclaves in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala respectively, made one by their French connection. The province suffered heavily due to the tsunami in the year 2004. A large number of people lost their lives in the calamity and many a people lost their properties and livelihood. Transportation, medical, education, telecommunication facilities are reasonably good. The nearest Airport is Chennai (in the province of Tamil Nadu) which is at a distance of 160 Kms from SOS location. The nearest Railway station is at a distance of 16 Kms from SOS.
The dream of a full-fledged SOS Children’s Village materialized in the panoramic campus at Pillayarkuppam, 16 Kilometers from the heart of the Puducherry. 15 SOS family homes, Social centre, Kindergarten, office facilities and staff quarters are arranged. The Village is home to 104 children, 43 boys and 61 girls.
During summer vacation children attend interesting and useful programmes like classical & folk dance classes, drawing & painting, popular games like football, cricket and badminton. Children attend extra curricular activities during the weekends like music, dance, drawing and computer classes and are admitted in seven different schools near the Children’s village. For academic excellence of children, remedial educational support is given in the evening.
The first batch of children has moved up to higher studies and some have settled down in jobs and become independent. At present, four girls are doing vocational courses in polytechnics / Institutes, eight girls are in nursing courses, one is in Second year of B.Sc. in Hotel Management and one is attending college education. The focus is on job related education so that children can settle down and become independent. 106 children are studying in local schools while 26 are in boarding.
