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Sending out an SOS
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As I mentioned in my first post when I returned from Africa (aptly titled "Back from Africa"), one experience I had there that really touched me was visiting the SOS Children's Village in Botswana.
According to information from SOS, an international organization that operates 1,600 villages in 132 countries, there are a total of three children's villages in the African nation of Botswana. They are: Tlokweng, Francistown and Serowe. On my trip, we spent the better part of a morning at Tlokweng, visiting with the children and families there.
Here's how the children's villages' concept, which was started by a man named Hermann Gmeiner after World War II, works: Each house in the village is run by a "Mother" and an "Aunt." In Botswana, these are women who voluntarily leave their own families in nearby towns and villages to help run households of up to 12 children. They receive a monthly allowance, which they allocate to keep the house running and take care of the children, just like any good mother would.
The children stay in the house until the age of 14 or 15. At that age, they are moved to the youth houses and prepared for the transition to the outside world, where many go on to lead productive, independent lives.
The idea behind the SOS Village is that it gives orphaned or abandoned children the chance to live with other children, who essentially become their brothers and sisters, and know what it's like to be part of a regular family, with routines and rituals. (Natural sibilings that enter SOS' care are kept together in the same house.)
The village, as a whole, functions just like any neighborhood. There is a kindergarten for pre-school-aged children, which also is open to the surrounding community.
Neighbors in the village get to know each other, and look after each other's children.
Overseeing the whole operation is a village "Father," who, along with other male employees, serves as a father figure for the children.
In Botswana, you coudn't help but smile as you followed the winding walkway that led from house to house. Each house was painted a different bright, pastel color. Children were everywhere, clamoring to hold your hand, to be picked up, hugged. They also love having their pictures taken—check out the adorable girl I met on the playground at SOS (right).
At it turns out,
they also like to take pictures themselves. This is me (left), as photographed by one of the little boys I met at SOS. I had to literally pry the camera out of his hands when it came time to say good-bye.
At one house, I took some time to talk to the mother. Here is a woman who left her own family—I believe she told me she had raised two children of her own—to raise another dozen kids that she doesn't know and isn't related to.
She lives in a very simple house and shares a bedroom with the other woman of the house, the aunt, not to mention the fact that the house also belongs to a dozen small children. She told us that she finds the energy to raise 12 kids "in her heart."
I guess that's the only place you could find the energy to exhibit such selfless behavior.
For more information, or if you would like to donate to the SOS Children's Village in Botswana, please visit www.sos-childrensvillages.org or call the SOS National Coordination Office in Botswana at (267) 3953 220. Donations of clothing, food stuff, books, toys and sporting equipment are welcome.
You can also sponsor a child, sponsor a village or sponsor a specific house or project.
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