SOS Mother in Pachacamac, Peru

“Before I came to SOS Children’s Villages, I didn’t know exactly what it was like to be an SOS Mother. Since then, four years have passed and now I can see that it is much more than simply looking after children in need,” says Flor, one of the SOS Mothers at SOS Children’s Village Pachacamac, Peru.

An SOS Village is comprised of around 10 to 14 family homes with an SOS Mother in each home caring for approximately 8 to 10 children. All children who are taken into an SOS Children’s Village live together with brothers and sisters and their SOS Mother, who acts as their stable person of reference. She takes on the tasks of natural parents on their behalf, when they are no longer able to look after their children. An SOS Mother passes a part of herself on to the children through the relationship she builds up with each individual child.

When Flor came across SOS Children’s Villages, she thought a Village would be like an orphanage. “When I started attending the training workshops, I realized SOS Children’s Villages was nothing like an orphanage. I would say that my life changed completely. To begin with, I changed my way of thinking. I learned to value myself and understood the role of women in life. I understood that the role of a mother in the development of a child is probably the most important thing. It is not simply about feeding children, giving them clothes, and sending them to school. A good relationship with children is based on security, on care, and love.”

Flor was born in Jaén, Peru and is now 29 years old. As she finished high school, she studied Nursing. After graduating, she worked as a nurse until, unfortunately, she fell sick and stopped working. However, recovering, she looked for a job and came across SOS Children’s Villages.

At the moment, Flor is an SOS Mother and is responsible for nine happy children. As her children lovingly say, Flor is a wonderful woman who cares for them with devotion. For example, when they are sick, she’s just like a real biological mother.

“I think I developed as a person and as an SOS Mother. Now, I know what SOS Children’s Villages means and about my role as an SOS Mother. That makes me feel like I can contribute to the present and future of my children. I want them to be happy and successful,” says Flor.

Lydia's success in life

“My children, people don’t expect you to overflow with gratitude, but to become responsible adults in society.” – Hermann Gmeiner, founder of SOS Children’s Villages

These words have molded me into the person that I am today. I’m Lydia Nekhunguni, a living success story of the vision that SOS Children’s Villages has for all its children around the world. This is the only home I have ever known and I know that SOS Children’s Villages is the reason for me being here today.

I am an adult now and have my own family, but I have never forgotten where I come from. I grew up at SOS Children’s Village Ennerdale, in South Africa, and was one of the first children at the village in 1981. My parents died when I was three. I have seven siblings, some of whom stayed on with me at the village and three others that went into foster care in Eldorado Park. I was so grateful to share a home with four of my siblings and another family of five. They eventually became our new brothers and sisters. Our first SOS Mother was Aunty Joan; she was lovely, but sadly passed away after a battle with cancer. Our second SOS Mother, Aunty Myra was and has been the closest thing to a natural mother.

I attended a brilliant high school and, in 11th grade, I was given the opportunity to go overseas and become an exchange student in France. Upon returning home to sunny South Africa, I pursued a career in marketing and studied towards a marketing degree. I was career-oriented and had no dream to have a family of my own. You can imagine my surprise when at the age of 25 I found out that I was pregnant! Now, 9 years later I am married with two children and Aunty Myra (my second SOS Mother) is now ‘granny Myra’.

The joys of having children are vast; however, I constantly live in fear that I, too, may leave my children one day as a result of a sudden death. However, if I had a choice, I would not have chosen a different life. I have never had to worry about having food on the table, clothes or money for education – it was always being provided.

Now I have the opportunity of giving back to those children who now find themselves on the same path that I had once been on in my life. For the last two years, I have managed to put a smile on children’s faces with the help of very humble and generous friends and colleagues who opened their hearts and pockets to bring my vision to life. We host Christmas parties for approximately ten children a year from SOS Children’s Village in Ennerdale, my old home. It is the most amazing feeling to see the children’s faces light up.

There is, however, no amount of money in the world that can ever repay everything that SOS Children’s Village and friends like you have done for me. People like you have contributed towards my life in a way that I will always be grateful for.

I am now a responsible member of society. I continued with my career in marketing and PR and have worked for companies such as Warstreet Marketing, a PR and marketing company, and African Bank. I have now finally taken the plunge and started my own business.

I will never know the donors of SOS Children’s Villages by name, but what I do know is that, without their continued support and generous donations, I would have been lost, without a future, or a chance to a normal life. I hope that my story may inspire someone to make a difference in someone else’s life. You never know what the impact will be.

I cannot change where I come from; it’s part of my history, but I have a choice over my future!

This post is part of the SOS Loving Home blog.

Picture of Carine in SOS Burundi

‘What a difference SOS Children’s Villages can make!’

Carine arrived at SOS Children’s Village Cibitoke in Burundi on September 13, 2009 at the age of two. An orphan, she was admitted to one of the homes in the Village. She was physically handicapped, without the full use of her legs, which prevented her from playing with other children.

During her first days at the Village, Carine was very shy, withdrawn and unhappy. She wasn’t able to enjoy life like the other children at the Village. ‘She would always sit on her own in a corner,’ the SOS Mother says. Her SOS Mother soon realized that Carine suffered from a special condition, later identified as knee joint valgus deformity.

Carine was examined at a rehabilitation center for handicapped people in Bujumbura. Carine was later taken to the rehabilitation center of Gitega in Bujumbura. The treatment took more than six months. After that, Carine underwent several massage sessions to put her muscles back in place. Now, Carine’s legs are normal and she is happy to run with other children when playing hide-and-seek.

‘Now, Carine is a totally different child, she is happy, confident and she is making steady progress,’ her SOS Mother says, ‘she knows all the songs and poems and thoroughly enjoys the company of other children. What a difference SOS Children’s Villages can make!’

A boy sees how long he can keep an old tire rolling.

Plastic bags, clothing remnants, wire, tires, sticks – these are the basic things that impoverished children use to make their toys.

Girls make their dolls out of plastic bags and scraps of fabric: they use the bags as filling and wrap or sew the fabric around the outside. We can probably think of fancier dolls than these, but people can love these dolls just as much – or more. The children also make their balls out of the same material: plastic bags as the core, with an old sock wrapped around the outside.

Children play – across the entire world and in every social class. In Mombasa’s slums we can see just how little they need for play: they can run through the streets for hours with an old tire, keeping it rolling and chasing it through the alleys and around the squares. And an old bicycle tire, once the spokes have been removed, becomes a perfect hula hoop. Some girls can keep it rotating around them forever, or even make it go up and down. The only problem is that the bicycles here are never really completely broken. When the tires go flat and can’t be patched anymore (or if there aren’t any more patches), then the children just ride right on the rims.

Inventive when it comes to replacement parts: rusted-out handlebars are replaced by tree branches. And if the handlebar is rusted through, then a stick will do, fastened to the frame with bands, or whatever else is around – an old drainpipe… We could put together an exhibition with all of it.

Cars can also be built out of anything: out of old juice containers, a milk carton, with lids as the wheels. Some models are made completely out of wire, artfully bent into shape, and others consist of two wheels and a long stick with a steering wheel at the upper end that the owner skilfully turns. And if an old key can be dug up and hung next to the steering wheel, then you really have everything you need to zoom around as a proud driver. And of course you take care of a vehicle like that! You only let your best friend take a turn at the wheel, once in a while.
What else? Girls play Blada, known elsewhere as Chinese jump rope: two girls stretch a rubber band between them. The girl in the middle jumps in and out, low, high, really high, crosses over and turns around. Or they play a ball game for three: the two on the outside throw the ball to each other, and the middle one has to try to catch it.

There are no limits on ideas for toys.

And of course soccer. There are also girls who play, but most of them are boys between 10 and 15 years old, some of whom play every day, throwing all their energy and dreams into it. Many of them haven’t ever seen their great soccer heroes on television, but nonetheless they are Christiano Ronaldo or David Beckham whenever they are on the pitch. And if they manage to make a great play, a precise center pass followed by a goal, then they’re no longer in a dusty slum: they’re at the top of the world.

You can follow Prisca’s Blog at outoftheslums.wordpress.com

Some things that are universal are drawings of snowmen, winter wonderlands, and Santa Claus. Here are some wonderful drawings from SOS children across the world. Also, please take a minute to listen to the holiday song from an SOS child in our Village in the Philippines.

SOS Zimbabwe child Snowman drawing

SOS Bulgaria child Holiday Village drawing

SOS Croatia child Santa drawing

New Niger SOS Children’s Village

SOS Children’s Village Dosso was officially inaugurated on November 8 by Niger’s First Lady, Dr Malika Issoufou Mahamadou, in the presence of thousands of guests.

The SOS Village Dosso is located about 85 miles east of Niger’s capital, Niamey. The new SOS Children’s Villages program there has a capacity for 120 children in SOS families, a Social and Medical Center, an SOS Kindergarten and an SOS Primary School. These facilities are of great contribution to the level of education of children and medical services for the communities sorely lacking in the region. More on the Village in Niger…

New SOS Children’s Village Officially Inaugurated in Peru

On November 14, 2011, SOS Children’s Village Juliaca was officially inaugurated by the SOS Children’s Villages Continental Director of Latin America and the Caribbean, Mr. Heinrich Mueller.

For the special occasion, all SOS Mothers and SOS co-workers had colorfully decorated the Village. Children were proud to show their beautiful new home to the guests, and particularly to the international visitors coming from Austria and other Latin American countries. They also performed some typical dances from the region as a form of giving thanks to the work of SOS Children’s Villages in Juliaca.

Check out the photos below from the two inauguration ceremonies!

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SOS Story: Moussa, 11 years old, has been living at SOS Children’s Village Abobo-Gare in the Ivory Coast since his father died in 2000. This year, he is in the 6th grade, which is the last year in primary education.

November 17, 2011: SOS Pushes for Children’s Rights in Jordan

In Jordan, where adultery is a crime that can result in a prison term, the children of the transgressors also pay. Not only are boys and girls separated from their incarcerated parents, these children lose their right to an identity and are forbidden from using their family name.

November 16, 2011: SOS Children Return to Thai Village as Floods Start to Recede

SOS is happy to report that last week evacuees from SOS Children’s Villages in Bangpoo, just south of Bangkok, were able to return to their homes. In early November SOS had moved the younger SOS children and some staff to high ground two hours east of Bangpoo.

November 9, 2011: Tech Skills for SOS Brazil

Twenty-five-year-old Sergio Bruno teaches 120 young people a year the information technology skills they need to find work in Brazil’s IT sector. But Sergio isn’t your average instructor and the program isn’t one he found by chance.

November 9, 2011: New SOS Children’s Village Opens in Russia

On October 27, the first eight children arrived at the new SOS Children’s Village in Russia. Located in the pretty historical town of Vologda, 300 miles north of Moscow, the newly opened SOS Children’s Village is the sixth in Russia.

A close up look at the SOS Kenya smart card.

In response to the current food insecurity in East Africa, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya decided to implement an innovative system in the district of Marsabit (North Kenya) to support populations affected by the crisis and to stimulate local economies and markets.

Marsabit is a marginalized area with very little infrastructure, services and communications. Families, in particular children, are being affected by the current drought crisis and are having serious difficulties with purchasing food.

Due to this situation, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya decided to leverage a technology that so many of us take for granted – the ability to swipe a credit card at the supermarket. Very similar to a debit card, SOS Kenya has implemented a food voucher electronic card to help displaced people meet their basic needs through the local market.

This system, which has been working since September 2011, aims to feed 1733 families (10,120 beneficiaries) by allowing them to access food from selected shops based on the World Food Program (WFP) food rations. Each family is issued with a smart card which is loaded with money every two weeks. Thanks to this smart card, families can purchase food from selected shops which supports the local economy as opposed to inundating it with food from outside sources and organizations.

A women in Kenya uses her smart card to purchase food.

Great Alternative to Cash

In regions as far apart as Marsabit, with few infrastructures, services and communications, it is very difficult and expensive to get cash for the families living there.

“We are now able to work with our colleagues and provide solutions which simplify and enhance the rollout of projects. Cashless payments to support communities are now a big thing with international NGOs and we are at par,
if not a step ahead of our peers,” said Duncan Litunya, Regional ICT Advisor East Africa.

The in store electronic purchase connects to a back end system managed by Paystream & Squid Card via GPRS networks. The back end system is a normal merchant card system similar to debit or credit card systems that provides for flexible reporting and card management. Transactions can then be seen by SOS Children’s Villages Kenya in real time.

Moreover these food vouchers electronic cards have a fraud prevention system. The head of family will have to use the smart card showing their National ID for authentication when making purchases.

Thanks to this system, local families can get food in an easy way. With this innovative solution, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya has shown that technology can be very useful in situations of crisis to help make people’s lives easier. Consider making a donation today that can help SOS apply more innovative solutions to people in need worldwide.

F1600 Formula F Championship Series

Following a race win and a third place finish in the inaugural F1600 Formula F Championship Series standings, Jim Goughary, driver of the No. 7 Piper/Honda for Raceworks, has donated his Championship check to SOS Children’s Villages, the official charity of F1600.

“I am donating the third place winnings, because my wife, three kids, and I have been talking about ways to raise money for starving children,” said Goughary, who won the first race in the history of the Series by inches in Virginia.

“I want to teach our kids that their lives here are a true privilege and what better way to do that than helping children that desperately need our help.”

SOS Children’s Villages is the largest organization in the world that provides long-term care for orphaned and abandoned children.

“SOS is making a difference and we want to support that. There needs to be more organizations like that to help kids,” continued Goughary. “Many of us take for granted how easy we really have it. As we speak little kids are dying. Think about that for just one minute. I think it is fantastic that SOS is there to help.”

The Florida native had a banner-year in F1600, and has recently picked up sponsorship for 2012 from ExtremeBidder.com, an auction website.

While most would remember a nail-biting photo finish over John Robinson at VIR that went to Goughary, he noted that Lime Rock was probably the highlight of the year, where he was the car to beat in all practices and sat on pole for both races.

“The first time I ever drove a F1600 car was this past January,” he added. “There was a steep learning curve to figure out how to make these cars go fast.”

Meanwhile, he has not quite made up his mind for 2012. A former Trans-Am and Star Mazda winner; Goughary is still considering his options.

“I am looking at other high profile series for 2012, but no plans are finalized yet. Regardless of where I land in 2012 I hope to be back for the full season next year. The F1600 series is a great tool no matter what level of racing you do. What I mean is that even the most experienced top level racers would benefit from driving in this series,” he explained.

“The F1600 Series is going to launch a new star if it hasn’t already,” stated Goughary. “If you can prove yourself here and win races you will be able to win races at any level of racing. To a certain degree, winning at this level is just as hard if not harder than winning races at the highest level of road racing in the country, and I say this from first hand experience.”

Are you interested in raising funds for children in need? Learn how you can start making a difference today by hosting an online fundraiser.

SOS Children's Villages Watkins Glen Cup from left to right - Cory, Bill, Remy

October 17, 2011: This Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting with race car drivers and their families at the race track Watkins Glen International in New York for SOS Children’s Villages.  On behalf of SOS, I proudly presented two SOS Children’s Villages Cups to the highest scoring drivers of many races — one to Remy Audette for the F2000 Championship Series, and the other to Bill Valet for the F1600 Formula F Championship Series.

I had never been to a real auto race before … now I’m hooked.  Imagine the sun-and-windswept New York mountain skyline, the buzzing engines, and the cinematic dialogue between drivers and teams who each know more than the last about their engines, performances and statistics.  The events I attended were the last of the season and stakes were high.  As the PR department posted about one F2000 event alone, “A 37-car grid forced the best cars and drivers in the field to battle it out with those around them for positions as the race went on. The large field made qualifying more important than ever.”  It was exciting as expected, especially for a newcomer.

The mission of SOS Children’s Villages is to build families for children in need, help them shape their own futures, and share in the development of communities.  The bond between F2000 and F1600 Series teams is very similar.  During and after the race, I met many of the Series drivers and teams briefly, either in the paddock where they inspect cars after each run, or around the track and awards ceremony. While watching friendly conversations, I immediately recognized something familiar within this group of racing enthusiasts — just like SOS Children’s Villages, the Series teams share a true sense of family.  Many of them consist of real or improvised families who race in a Masters Class or have taught their children to perform these incredible feats.  Even between family teams a sense of camaraderie holds competitors together.  They huddle together for good news and bad, they laugh a lot, and they warmly welcome outsiders like me.

Congratulations to Remy Audette, Bill Valet, and all of the F2000 and F1600 drivers and families.  Special thanks to Series Managing Director Michael Rand and Monty Mathisen of Mathisen Media for bringing SOS Children’s Villages to the track at Watkins Glen International.

Check out some photos from the F2000 and F1600 events:

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