Our work in Brazil helps about 1,700 children directly, in our 15 SOS Children's Villages.  We reach a further 10,000 through Family Strengthening Programmes and our other services, such as SOS Social Centres.

Since SOS Children opened its first SOS Children's Village in Concepción in 1965, a further 13 have been built, bringing the total to 14.  After the powerful earthquake in Chile in 2010, SOS Children was able to provide support to families affected by the earthquake.

We began our work in Colombia in 1971. We support about 700 children directly, in our villages, and we support another 8,000 people through education, healthcare and Family Strengthening Programmes

Ecuador

SOS Children has operated in Costa Rica since 1975.  Amongst the three SOS Children's Villages in the country, Hogar Luz is a specially designed village that only cares for disabled children.

A small and industrialised country, El Salvador is also one of the most violent and crime-ridden countries in the Americas.  We currently have five SOS Children's Villages in the country.

SOS Children began working in Guatemala in 1976 following an earthquake which totally destroyed the Indian town of San Juan Sacatepéquez, 30 km from Guatemala City.

After the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010, SOS Children took in many unaccompanied and orphaned children.  We have been working in the country since 1982 and currently have two SOS Children's Villages there.  We provide long term emergency relief work in Haiti.

We have two villages on the Caribbean island of Jamaica.  These are Stony Hill, near the capital city of Kingston, and Barrett Town, on the north-west of the island.  We have been working on the island since 1972.

We began working in Nicaragua in 1973 following an earthquake which effectively destroyed the capital of Managua.  We built an SOS Children's Village in Esteli in north-west Nicaragua, about 150 km from the capital. There are now six SOS Children's Villages, as well as numerous social welfare and educational projects which also benefit local communities.

We have been working in Panama since 1982, when the first community was opened on the edge of Panama city.  Two more have since been opened, in David and Penonomé.

SOS Children's activities in Latin America were started in the 1960s. The SOS Children's Villages were a completely new concept in Latin America. 

Ecuador was the first place in Latin America where an SOS Children's Village was built. A second Village was built in Uruguay. Chile was the third country that SOS Children started working in. 

Apart from French Guyana, Guyana, Belize, Suriname and some Caribbean islands, SOS Children works in all the countries of South, Middle and Central America.

We also work in North America. In the USA we have three Villages and in Canada there is a Village in British Columbia.

In Latin America in recent years an emphasis has been placed on family support, on building up different social facilities and community-based programmes for disadvantaged families and street children. Single mothers form one of the most troubled groups in society, partly because they have fewer education opportunities.

SOS Children provides support in many locations: we hold courses, support networks of families who help each other; we offer education opportunities, an employment service and loans, and we have nurseries and advice centres, which all improve the prospects for families and their children in the long term.

Natural disasters, emergencies and violent conflicts have in recent decades repeatedly required humanitarian intervention; permanent facilities have often resulted from these emergency relief measures.

These are some examples:

• Aid after the serious earthquake in and around Mexico City in 1985
  
• Helping refugees in the Mexican State of Chiapas
  
• An SOS Children's Village was built for orphans following a serious earthquake in Guatemala in 1976;
  
• Emergency relief and construction of facilities in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua following Hurricane Mitch in 1998
• Support following the floods and landslides in Haiti in 2004 as well as after the Haiti earthquake in 2010.
  
• In March 2010, an earthquake struck Chile and we provided support for some of those affected.