A new SOS children’s village, the 16th of its kind in Vietnam, opened in Thai Binh city in northern Thai Binh province on January 21.

The project, worth a total of 65.17 billion VND (3.1 million USD), was jointly funded by the province’s People Committee, the PetroVietnam Drilling and Well Services Corporation under the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), the SOS International Children’s Village Organisation, and donors from the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The facility has 14 houses accommodating roughly 120-140 orphans and homeless children. There is also a kindergarten capable of taking care of 200 infants and toddlers.

The village is currently home to 60 children.

At the inauguration ceremony, Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen hailed practical contributions made by the benefactors to help ease difficulties among disadvantaged children in the province and across Vietnam.

She also called for care and attention from local authorities and involved staff to ensure efficiency in the operation of the facility.

Since 1987, the SOS International Children’s Village Organisation has funnelled more than 100 million USD into similar projects located across 16 cities and provinces in Vietnam.

The facilities have raised a total of nearly 3,800 children, ranking third out of 134 countries and territories worldwide to benefit from SOS village projects, behind India and Brazil.-VNA