The SOS Social Center in Ribeira Julião is frequented daily by about 80 children, ages 6 to 17. The Centro Social’s main projects are the Family Strengthening Program and the Prevention of Child Abandonment, and are currently working with 116 families on the island of São Vicente, benefiting 450 children. The SOS has a recreational field which is used mostly for soccer, yet there is no other area for children to interact and play.
The Cape Verde educational system has the capacity to educate children and youth during two sessions, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. As a result, these children and youth have half a day where they are not attending school. In poverty stricken areas where often children grow up in homes with no defined structure or parental figures, many of these children spend their free time playing in the street, where they are at risk of joining gangs, leaving their families and failing to complete school. The SOS Social Center of São Vicente has helped meet this need, by giving about 80 children and youth a safe place to study, play,receive counseling and receive a hot meal daily.
The construction of a playground at the SOS Social Center would give the 450 beneficiaries of the island of São Vicente, including the 80 that attend the Center daily, and the surrounding communities of Ribeira Julião, Ribeira Craqinha and Chã de Marina, a safe place to play, develop and grow.
Play has been seen to be such a vital aspect of a child’s development that the United Nations High Commission for the Human Rights has deemed it as a right of every child. Yet in a world with many challenging forces, many children are not given the same access to the right of play because of the ‘‘limited resources available to children living in poverty'' Play, specifically unstructured play, allows children to be creative and develop their imagination, dexterity, and physical, cognitive and emotional strength. A playground is a space that encourages unstructured play, allowing children to overcome challenges, work in groups, negotiate and resolve conflicts, all which help their physical, cognitive and emotional development.
Right now, I am (with help of two others) in the final stages of preparing a budget and a grant proposal to construct a playground at the Centro Social SOS. The proposed playground will be constructed in a 200 square meters area next to the recreational field. This playground will be constructed in Cape Verde (with the exception of a plastic slide which cannot be made here). The structure of the playground will be made by a local carpenter and it will be assembled by beneficiaries and locals. When constructed, it will be the only playground on the island of São Vicente to be made in Cape Verde. Therefore I feel that this project has the potential to be a catalyst for other similar projects on the island, and will provide jobs and income to the local community.
The playground will be funded through a $9000 grant from the U.S. Embassy and by the SOS. The SOS needs to contribute 25% of the final budget, which is about $3000.
If you would like to help fund this project, you can do so by:
Making a contribution by transferring money into the SOS's Bank account (I will post the bank account number when I know it)
As an alternative, you can send a check to my parents and they will make one large deposit.
Either way, the SOS Social Center will send you a receipt for your donation and of course photos of the playground!
Thank you for you help!
For more information about this project, and how you can help please e-mail me at CathrynDuffy@gmail.com
(Children playing on the streets with ''toy'' beer bottles)
(Working with street youth)
(A few of our beneficiaries) ''THANK YOU!''
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