“A medical student, Hermann Gmeiner, opened the first SOS children’s village in Austria in 1949. Today SOS Children’s Villages in more than 106 countries are home to over 26,000 needy children. An SOS Children’s Village consists of 10-20 houses. In each house, 9-13 children of various ages live with their SOS mother. While providing a family environment for children who have been abandoned by events beyond their control, SOS also acts as a bridge integrating the children into the larger society. The children attend local schools and thus are able to keep in close contact with the surrounding community.”
When we arrived we were introduced to a family and welcomed into house five. We sat and chatted with the mother and children, who were mostly boys ranging from 7-13, for a while and then we asked them if they wanted to play soccer. It ended up being 8 on 4 with the advantage to the home team. This game was played on a full soccer field in very intense high 90 degree heat. Americans were dropping like flies and at one point our side was made up of me and this other guy. I was real surprised at my soccer skills that I have maintained since I was five years old, although I had the advantage of actually wearing sneakers while they played in their bare feet. The small kids and others that didn’t want to play soccer went over to the playground.
After the about a half hour we were invited back into the home for some refreshments. The little kids came in and asked to be carried or grabbed our hands. We then walked with Susan, our tour guide and secretary/ director to visit the school. The small ones followed and were excited to show us their classrooms.
We headed back to the front office and donated our materials because the whole village is run strictly on donations.
This trip was definitely one of my most amazing experiences so far being able to interact with families, especially ones that were formed by children with different backgrounds. When asked if there was a male role model, since there was no father in the home, Susan informed me that the head director acted as the father figure. It really surprised me how polite and well mannered the children were even with their rough backgrounds. This may be a nice program to institute more aggressively in the United States.
When I got back to the ship I ran out with a couple people to the internet café and right when I was about to call my mom the electricity went out, among other things people lost the long emails that they were writing.
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