On 29th October 1999, an extraordinarily
strong cyclone ("super cyclone") devastated
a large portion of the State of Orissa. This
cyclone caused severe damage in 14 of the 30
districts of Orissa. Millions of people were
rendered homeless. More than 15000 people were
killed leaving behind many children orphaned
and destitute. SOS Children’s Villages
of India responded immediately by setting up
Relief Camps and brought home many children
to the existing Children’s Village at
Bhubaneswar. The relief work was appreciated
by the State Government and the community at
large. In view of a large number of children
having been rendered homeless and orphaned by
the cyclone, there was a need for establishing
a new SOS Children’s Village in the State.
The Government of Orissa allotted 8 acres of
land in Rourkela to build an SOS Children’s
Village for this purpose.
Rourkela is located in the
northwestern tip of Orissa in Sundergarh district,
at the heart of a rich mineral belt. It is surrounded
by a range of hills and encircled by rivers.
Rourkela is the industrial capital of Orissa.
It has industries of all sizes. The city is
known internationally for iron & steel trades.
One of the largest steel plants of the Steel
Authority of India is situated here. It also
has one of the National Institutes of Technology
of the country. It is situated on the Kolkata-Mumbai
South Eastern railway line which is a major
route connecting the two metros of India. Rourkela
is also directly connected to many major cities.
Besides Rourkela is connected to various towns
of the state by State Highway 10 and National
Highway 23.
The Children’s Village
is located just beside the 23 kilometers long
Ring Road, connecting 18 Sectors and some other
parts of the Steel City including old Rourkela.
The Village is 8 Kms away from the railway station.
The construction of the Children’s
Village was started in November 2001 and it
was dedicated to the service of needy children
of Orissa on December 2, 2003 by the Chief Minister
of the state Mr. Naveen Patnaik.
At present there are 152 (67
boys & 85 girls) children living in 15 family
houses in an affectionate family environment.
107 children are attending schools. 32 children
are attending Village Kindergarten. 6 children
are in boarding pursuing studies.
SOS Children's Village Rourkela
consists of 15 family houses, a community house,
staff quarters and other necessary infrastructures.
There is a kindergarten, which is open to children
from the neighbourhood.
SOS
Youth Facility
The Youth House Arunodaya became
operational on 14th July 2006 in the existing
accommodation at Kalinga Vihar, 2 kms away from
the Children's village. From among the 14 youths
on the roll of Youth House, one youngster is
doing his diploma in Civil Engineering and the
rest attend High School.
There is a youth council, which
helps the youth leader in the smooth functioning
of the youth house. Various in-door and out-door
activities are carried out for the exposure
and development of the youths.
SOS
Kindergarten
The Village Kindergarten is
functioning since 2003. It has two big classrooms,
which is decorated with soft toys, drawings
and paintings by the children. One section is
being used as the play school of Kindergarten.
There is one trained (NTT) teacher and one Aunt
Assistant to look after these children. The
other section of kindergarten is meant for the
higher nursery classes. One trained Teacher
imparts the necessary training to the children
and prepares them for the admissions to higher
classes into different schools of Rourkela.
Presently there are 35 children in the kindergarten
out of which 3 belong to the nearby community.
SOS
Social Centre
Since its inception in 2003,
the Social Centre has been dedicated towards
the mission of child survival and development,
Women empowerment and various development services
in the nearby community. Under the program of
child survival and development, the project
is running 10 Balwadis (Pre school centres),
with 338 children in different villages in the
age group of 3-6yrs, with play way methods of
teaching and providing mid-day meal to balwadi
children to prevent malnutrition.
Regular training and exposure
programs on Food preservation and Processing,
Mushroom Training & Welding Training, tailoring
training are organized in the target villages
through Mahila Mandal. The social center has
widened its service and training the community,
to start small scale business, and setup network
with microfinance governmental institutions
for further support. They are also assisted
in establishing their own social association
to solve their social troubles. It has continued
the provision of health education, antenatal
and post natal services in addition to creating
AIDS awareness. The social centers in 10 villages
are playing a vital role in making the difference
in the life of the villagers.
SOS Social Centre building
is under construction within the SOS Children's
Village campus. The building consists of 2 big
halls and two small rooms, which will be utilized
for multi-purpose facilities like vocational
training, conducting self help group meetings,
workshops & seminars for program beneficiaries,
trainers' training programs of skill formation
& income generation, etc. Besides, 5 Community
Centers are under construction in 5 villages
around SOS Children's Village for running community
based family empowerment programs detailed below
in partnership with local Women's Groups (Mahila
Mandals).
The first ever Hermann Gmeiner
Scholarship award, under reaching out to children
in need, was awarded to Bikash Parida of Podana
Village in Kendrapada District of Orissa, by
SOS Social Centre, Rourkela. The timely financial
support by SOS-India extended to Bikash, helped
him get admission in Sriram Chandra Bhanj (SCB)
Medical College at Cuttack, a premier Medical
institution of the State to pursue his dream
career.
