Friends of Maria & SOMAR – a refuge for abandoned children in Salvador
On 2nd July 2007 there was a fire at Maria’s refuge but thankfully no one was hurt. This precipitated a sharp turn of events which made it necessary to find new places for all the children being taken care of by the project and the eventual closure of Friends of Maria in the UK and the SOMAR centre in Salvador.
There have been intense discussions and planning over the last few months which is likely to result in the emergence of a new organisation called Children of Bahia.
Please check back on the ABC website in the next few weeks for further information.
Friends of Maria
Friends of Maria was established as a small UK based charity to provide financial and advisory support to Maria’s refuge and helped to establish the new child care centre ‘SOMAR’ with support from ABC.
| Region: |
Salvador, Bahia |
| Type of Work: |
Basic care; shelter; education |
| No of children: |
30 at Child Care Centre |
| Other beneficiaries: |
Wider community through meal provision and income generation skills training |
| Age range: |
0-15 years, boys and girls |
| Founded: |
Friends of Maria 2002; SOMAR 2005 |
Somar - The Organização Social Sorriso de Maria
ABC and Friends of Maria helped establish the SOMAR child care centre in the downtown area of Salvador, offering education, basic health care, counselling, meals washing facilities and a safe place to play for 30 children.
The children who attended SOMAR could not register at state schools either because there were insufficient places or because many had no official papers or birth certificates and were therefore unable to enroll. Further work was organised for the children’s families, teaching practical skills to the parents so that they may find new jobs.
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