MBOMBELA- SOS Children’s Village celebrates special women this Mother’s Day for being the backbone of what SOS Children’s Villages does.
“They have the enormous task of motivating, encouraging, loving and supporting children that come from diverse backgrounds to believe that anything is possible. It is not an easy calling, and this Mother’s day we salute their incredible work,” explained Siphiwe Maphanga, National Director of SOS Children’s Villages in South Africa.
The SOS Children’s Villages (SOS CV) have been caring for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children who have lost or are at risk of losing parental care within South Africa for the past 32 years. At the centre the children are looked after by the SOS Children’s Villages mothers who are a number of women who devote their lives to caring for and raising children whose own biological mothers are unable to do so – either as a result of extreme poverty, terminal illness, death, abuse or neglect.
“Their task is never easy. At SOS Children’s Villages, a mother has up to ten children of all ages under her care in a family home. These children invariably come with immense emotional baggage, trust and social issues. For the mother, the physical care and attention is by far a much smaller task than the massive challenge of rebuilding the child’s trust and establishing loving relationships with a child who in all likelihood, has lived through more trauma and heartbreak than we can ever fathom,” explained Siphiwe.
“And despite all the challenges, these moms devote their time, energy and love to heal broken hearts and the painful wounds of our country’s most vulnerable citizens. At the end of it all, she is responsible for raising well-rounded children, in a loving home environment, providing for their emotional and physical needs, seeing to their education and social welfare, to create adults that can go forth in the world with confidence and self-sufficiency. There are countless stories of children who go on to live fulfilling lives both personally and professionally and start their own loving families – thanks to the devotion and love of their SOS Children’s Villages mother,” explains Siphiwe.
To support SOS Children’s Villages SMS the word SOS to 42975 to make a R30 donation or go to www.sosvillages.org.za.
In South Africa, the SOS Children’s Villages concept was established and registered in 1982, with the first village built in 1983 in Ennerdale.
This was followed by seven more in Mamelodi, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, Pietermartizburg, Mthatha, Nelspruit and Rustenburg. In addition to the village concept, the growing orphan crisis in Southern Africa, largely attributed to the HIV & AIDS pandemic, saw the establishment of the SOS Family Strengthening Programme. SOS CV realised that there was a need to expand beyond its children’s village operations to prevent children from becoming orphaned and abandoned, and falling out of the family environment.
SOS CV responded by developing community-based family strengthening programmes, which provide support to families caring for orphans and vulnerable children, with the aim of keeping these children in their families and communities of origin.
