Students of SOS Children’s Village Bangui run out of school at the end of classes. Photo: Sylvain Cherkaoui, SOS Children’s Villages

[Via Satellite 10-23-2014] Thuraya Telecommunications is working with the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) SOS Children’s Villages to bring satellite connectivity to the Central African Republic. The company donated public calling office units, SatSleeves and Thuraya IP+ broadband terminals along with Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards and airtime.

The equipment will be used for communications between villages within the Central African Republic, which are often too far inland to be reached by coastal fiber networks. SOS Children’s Villages will also use the donation to coordinate emergency preparedness and responses.

SOS Children’s Villages primarily assists children who have lost parental support. The NGO supports 2,600 orphaned and vulnerable children, and provides aid to roughly 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Central African Republic.