We are very pleased to share the update on our partnership with SOS Children’s Villages, with the release of the End Year Report 2022– which provides an overview of the highlights of the year on the support initiatives Xellia has focused on with SOS Children’s Villages, to help families living in hardship. In addition to Xellia’s corporate partnership funding which focuses on Eldoret, Kenya – our colleagues have shown immense engagement raising funds for supplementary needs and projects for both SOS Children’s Villages in Eldoret, Kenya and for other SOS Children’s Villages around the world which we have collaborated with.
Xellia Pharmaceuticals’ support of the Family Strengthening Program surrounds the Programs’ focus on working jointly with community-based organizations, volunteers and local authorities to build effective support systems for struggling families through assisting with vital everyday needs. This can include materials for their shelter, daily living, healthcare support and schooling, while the most vulnerable families receive supplementary rations of the necessary food types.
Xellia’s corporate partnership with SOS Children’s Villages
Through the annual donation made by Xellia during 2022, the SOS Children’s Villages Family Strengthening Program supported 144 households with a total of 618 children and 96 youths who were at risk of losing parental and family care.
Employee-driven initiatives throughout the year
In addition to Xellia’s corporate partnership funding, Xellians have also embraced the partnership with SOS Children's Villages at an individual level by initiating fundraising activities at their respective sites to raise funds for supplementary needs and projects at the SOS Children’s Villages in Eldoret, Kenya & Ukraine. During 2022, the following initiatives were the core focus:
Helping the children of war in Ukraine -
Xellia’s employee fundraising specifically went to supporting key relief work among which included: providing psychosocial assistance; ensuring access to food and clean water; providing health support and hygiene kits; providing other basic non-food items like blankets, clothes and shoes to those in need.
Jiggers Outreach Campaign in Eldoret, Kenya -
Xellia’s employee donations supported both the prevention of new attacks and the treatment of affected children and adults suffering from jiggers, through the Jiggers Eradication Program. The program included jigger removal from infected tissue, disinfection of the wounds and receiving a pair of shoes for protection against new jigger attacks. In 2022, with the donations, we were able to support 45 houses being fumigated and 246 individuals being treated for jiggers.
Fundraising for local day-care centers in Eldoret, Kenya -
Many Early Childhood Development Centers in the local schools of Eldoret are in a very poor condition. The Centers do not have proper sanitary provisions and lack enough trained teachers and adequate play and learning materials such as tables, chairs, books and toys. Through this years’ employee generated donations, we were able to improve the conditions of a number of local day-care centers.
Xellia’s Annual Fundraising Event
Since 2016, we have sent a group of Xellia employees to Eldoret, Kenya each year as part of our Annual Fundraising Event, to experience the work Xellia - and most importantly our employees - are contributing to through our partnership. During the 2022 trip to Eldoret, our colleagues met Kenyan SOS social workers, the families living in the SOS compound and families enrolled in the Family Strengthening Program. They visited local schools, capacity building training workshops and participated in outreach activities of the Program. Additionally, our colleagues had the opportunity to talk to the local SOS team in Eldoret about where funds raised in Xellia in 2023 could be best allocated to ensure the greatest impact in the community. With COVID-19 restrictions halting the travel to Eldoret the last couple of years, a larger Xellia group went on the trip in 2022 - we truly hope you will enjoy watching the video, where our colleagues share their experiences and reflections.