S.O.S. Children's Village

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Last week we visited the SOS Childrens Village - Arusha. My friend Hazel will be volunteering for SOS when she returns to England later ths summer so she wanted to take the opportunity to visit one of the villages while in Tanzania. I was glad to go along with her and anxious to learn more. What we found after our long journey was shocking to us both. It felt as though we had been transported into a small scandanavian village. The students were still in school so we had time with one of the administrators to have a tour and learn about the history of SOS childrens villages. The first villages emerged in the 1940's, founded by Austrian, Herman Gmeiner. Today there are SOS childrens villages in roughly 140 countires around the world. SOS comes from the latin words Societas Socialis, meaning 'assistance through community'. The entire system is based on four main pricnipals - the mother, the family, the house and the village. Yet nother example of how it takes a village to raise a child.

The village outside Arusha is one of the newest and opened in May 2000. With 100 orphans living in 10 family houses the village is now at full capacity. Children are acceptd into the village from birth until 6 years old and will be placed in a family and live there until ready to live independently, usually sometime in the early 20's. Each family is composed of a mixture of boys and girls who eventually become brothers and sisters. All other children in the village are then considered cousins and the other mother's are considered Auntie's. Most of the mothers do not have children of their own or else have grown children who no longer need their support. They live full time at the SOS village and essentially have an adopted family of 10. The mothers are given a set amount of money for food and other necessities for the family and are in charge of preparing meals and teaching children about cooking and household chores. The village also has other projects that are designed to help prepare children for independent life. A SOS medical center is even planned for the future.

There is a kindergrarten on the property, as well as english medium primary and secondary schools very nearby. None of the governemnt primary school are english medium schools, so these students are recieving some of the best education possible in Tanzania. All three schools are also open the local village residents providing them a good education and a way for the orphans to integrate with other children.

SOS is committed to supporting children until thay are able to support themselves. In their late teens the children move out of the family house into a youth house where they look after themselves with the guidance of youth leaders. This is where they will live while attending university or while looking for their first job, but they will always have a home and mother at the family house.

You might be wondering where the father is in this picture. The director of the village also serves as the father to all children. So, yes, there is only one father for all of the children.

Obviously this comes at no small cost. While we asked about financial statements and how much it costs to run the SOS Childrens village, they did not have the information on hand. I hope to learn more upon returning to the U.S. about the operational costs and structure of the villages around the world.

Spending the afternoon at SOS felt like we were in another world, but for the children who have/would suffer more than most it is likely there only chance for a good future. After playing with the children in the kindergarten and meeting many of the primary students on their way home from school it was time to leave. It was a strange feeling walking away from SOS. While I recognized it was a shining example of what could work, it did not seem like enough. What about all the children outside the gates whose future was so bleak? The feeling was a combination of frustration and hope. Frustration - that this should and could be happening more widely and more often, and hope - in that it exists at all. From what I can understand other organizations are looking to the SOS model as one to replicate across Africa for other schools and orphanages. From what I can tell it just may be the best chance for a brighter future for an entire generation of this continents most destitute and deserving.

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