The Challenges of a child-headed household

The Green Family SOS Children’s Village Ondangwa runs a Family Strengthening Program to support vulnerable families in the surrounding community. These programs work with families that are struggling to meet the basic needs of their children and help prevent further child abandonment and neglect. This is a story about Cornelia and how her family has benefited from the Family Strengthening Program in Ondangwa:

Cornelia is the eldest sibling in a family of five that has been left to fend for themselves after the death of their parents. Cornelia’s father passed away in 1999 and lost her mother just a few years later.

The family shares a one room home that has been renovated by SOS Children’s Villages to ensure the families safety. The responsibility of caring for her four younger siblings has fallen on Cornelia who recently turned 25 and has a young child of her own. With very little income, the family struggled to meet their basic needs and basic services like education and medical care were simple out of reach.

With the help of the Ondangwa Family Strengthening Program, Cornelia was able to start her open her own street-food stand which generates money for the family. The Family Strengthening Program has also helped Cornelia send her siblings and child to school and access medical care.

Today the family is doing significantly better then when they first entered the program and they are on their way to self-sufficiency.

The Green Family SOS Children’s Village in Ondangwa, Namibia was the first SOS Village completely funded by Canadians. The Village and its Family Strengthening Program continues to be funded by generous donations from Canadian individuals and corporations.