Sponsor a child in Madagascar

Many of the inhabitants of the large island of Madagascar live in crippling poverty, with no access to medical care, education or clean drinking water. SOS Children started working here in 1986 to provide much-needed material support to children and their parents.

To help children receive the resources they need, sponsor a child in Madagascar with SOS Children:

In rural Madagascar, infrastructure is poor or non-existent, and many people live with no access schools and hospitals. Subsistence farmers produce barely enough food to sustain their families, leading to malnutrition as well as isolation and suffering. Many people live on less than $1.25 per day.

Growing up with no parents, many children find themselves on the streets, resorting to begging, cleaning car windows and child prostitution. Those who are lucky enough to live with their families find themselves unable to attend school through lack of funding. Instead, they begin difficult and dangerous work from as young as 8, working 12-hour days as unpaid servants, labouring in toxic environments or being trafficked for work abroad.

In the suburbs of the capital city Antananarivo, Vontovorona faces extreme poverty. Many children go into the capital in search of work. Away from their families, they are vulnerable to abuse and have no-one to turn to. With no access to education, there is no way for these families to escape the cycle of child labour and poverty.

SOS Children began working in Vontovorona in 1989 and has been able to provide support to families so that parents can work while children study in the care of SOS staff. Children in Vontovorona benefit from good medical care, and learn carpentry and dress-making.

Mangarano is located near the city of Tamatave on the east coast of Madagascar. On several occasions, cyclones have completely destroyed the city. Food is scarce and thousands of children under five die from malnutrition each year.

SOS Children works with families in Mangarano to offer guidance and support. It also has several social centres offering care and education, with special programmes to boost the skills and confidence of children who have dropped out of school.

SOS Children began working in Antsirabe, in the central highlands of Madagascar, in 2003, supporting rural communities who were moving into the capital to seek work. On coming to the city, migrants were forced to live in precarious conditions on the outskirts of the city. Rural Antsirabe is a difficult place to live, with no infrastructure and very little running water, and women and girls have to fetch buckets of water from communal wells. As well as basic care and stability, SOS Children is providing education for children in the hope that they will go on to find work in the city.

Aids Orphans in Madagascar

See also Aids Orphan Projects in Madagascar, Africa.

Villages d'Enfants SOS de Madagascar

P.O. Box 6062

Antananarivo 101

Madagascar

Tel: +261/ 20 /22 41827

e-mail: vesosmad@moov.mg