Attat kindergarten, Gurage, Ethiopia
The kindergarten in Attat was built to support the families, especially the small children the area around the Attat hospital.
The Attat Hospital, a project of the South Tyrolean Doctors for the World, is located 180 kilometres southwest of Addis Ababa. It serves a catchment area of 1,000,000 inhabitants within a radius of 100 kilometres. The hospital has 97 beds for inpatients, plus 44 beds in the house for mothers at risk and 11 beds for malnourished children. The bed utilisation rate is 100%.
The kindergarten in Attat is currently only attended by 45 children, although it was built for a larger number of children. This is due to the fact that it does not have the necessary resources to provide the little ones with one meal a day. The mothers who live a little further away therefore no longer bring their children to the kindergarten.
The parish of Attat has asked the South Tyrolean Doctors for the World for help. Abba Estefanos is the coordinator of the project, Abba Habtesilassie Antewan is the person responsible for the diocese of Emdibir, with whom Stefan Haller of the Algund dairy and member of the South Tyrolean Doctors for the World association has also built and coordinates agricultural projects and a cheese dairy.
SOS Children's Village Bressanone and Merano
The South Tyrolean Children's Village has been supporting children, young people and parents in difficult life situations for over 70 years. During this time, numerous facilities, services and educational support programmes for children and young people have been created in response to various emergencies. Originally, the typical children's village families with a "children's village mother" were offered as a substitute for the family of origin. Over time, the children's village has developed into a socio-educational centre.
There are only a few children's village families today. However, the offer has been supplemented by childcare places in family-like facilities, residential places for young people in shared flats and several small flats for single mothers. The outpatient services support families at home and the therapy centre acts as a therapeutic point of contact for children with a wide range of problems.
Around 50 children and young people between the ages of 3 and 21 currently live in the South Tyrolean Children's Village in Brixen and Meran. They are looked after by dedicated social carers. As a social co-operative, the children's village receives state contributions, but has to finance 1/3 of the total costs itself and is therefore dependent on donations.