The Times of India, CHENNAI, Nov 11, 2013
R Latha is the mother of 21 - the eldest recently got married at a pandal near her house, and the youngest is in Montessori school.
The house of 43-year-old Latha, who left her husband, is at SOS Children's Villages, an NGO in Tambaram. Each of the 17 mothers at SOS have had lives filled with struggle and so have the 195 children there, but they survive through mutual support.The mothers are women left destitute and the children are orphans, but their pasts don't affect the strong families they're building at Chennai SOS, which was established 35 years ago.
Latha walked out of her husband's house a week after marriage. "The marriage was a lie and the house wasn't safe for me as a woman. The children are my family. I take them home during summer vacations and I take them on travels whenever possible. Two of my daughters are married and they visit us regularly with their spouses," says Latha, who has been the head of Kamakoti house at SOS for the past 14 years.
It is a struggle to find the right mothers, says Chennai village director Ramesh Kumar. "We have to find the right person who can take care of the children like their own. The mothers have to deal with their own stress and emotional problems along with their children's, which is why we help them with yoga and meditation," he said.
Getting funds has been another challenge says SOS global president Siddhartha Kaul. "We don't have much government support for the programmes. And we provide financial support to children who want to continue their studies," he said during his visit to the village on Sunday.
For unmarried 59-year-old Sujatha from Vishakapatnam, raising the 11 children at Kumara Vijayam is her life's mission. "It's the mature children who don't listen to us sometimes when we tell them to study or not to go out late. Otherwise our family is like every other normal family," says Sujatha.
The mothers are usually not informed about the child's background. "We try to raise them as children with families and siblings. Unless the children ask us about their past at some point, we don't tell them about anything," says Brindha Prince, a member of SOS.
Now, the group is focusing on a family strengthening programme where below poverty line families with single mothers and their children are aided in supporting their family. Prince said there were 170 families outside SOS getting the support since four years.
Sponsor a child today in SOS Children's Village Chennai:
Online: www.soschildrensvillages.in
Telephone: +91-11- 4323 9200
Toll-free No.: 1800 102 6905
Email : soscvi@soscvindia.org
Founded in Austria by Hermann Gmeiner, SOS Children's Villages provides family-based care to children those who lost their parents and those who are at risk of losing parental care. It advocates the concerns, rights and needs of children. More than 31,000 children and young people are in direct care in 166 SOS Children's Villages in 16 countries in South Asia and East Asia.
Showing posts with label SOS Children's Village Chennai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SOS Children's Village Chennai. Show all posts
Sunday, November 24, 2013
"Families are breaking apart, parents abandon kids"
The Hindu, Chennai, Nov 14, 2013
Siddhartha Kaul, president of SOS Children’s Villages International, who was in the city recently, says the number of children needing help has gone up
“Mom came into my room that cold night in Delhi and asked me to find out who was at the gate. I went out grumbling, and told the elderly guy to come in the morning. Mom said, ‘Look again, there’s another person behind the bush.’ Indeed, there was an aged woman cradling a newborn in her arms. I brought them in, helped them feed the baby. Word got around and a dozen mothers came forward to adopt the infant!” Siddhartha Kaul, president, SOS Children’s Villages International, narrates this incident by way of underlining his statement “I was pulled into this work”.
Sitting in the verandah of SOS Children's Village Tambaram, he talks of his 35-plus years of giving orphaned / abandoned kids a home. He speaks calmly, with no trace of pontification or no attempt at finger-pointing.
He grew up in children’s Villages, he said, his dad having started a movement when he established India’s first SOS Children’s Village at Greenfields in Faridabad in 1968. In 1978, when Uma Narayan’s family was looking for someone to start a children’s Village on their family property in Madras, he was chosen for the job. He was travelling, trying to discover himself. “Somehow my name was part of the SOS, and this was my first paid job. I was comfortable with the idea of training mothers. I said, ‘Ok, let’s do it’.”
On a mission
He came to Madras, knew no Tamil, no one knew Hindi, “we all spoke English!” In the next two-and-a-half-years, he set up the Village, had it running. “My seniors saw my work, reckoned I was young and adventurous enough to be sent to Sri Lanka.” He set up SOS Children's Village in Piliyandala, and in the middle of the 1983 conflict, drove into Jaffna with a Tamil-speaking friend to see if he could start a programme. He managed to unite 300 kids with their parents, and Jaffna, now has sixth SOS Children's Village to house 72 kids.
He’s in Chennai for the first time as international president. “Mothers have retired, kids have grown and left, but the deep attachment from creating it stays.”
Families are breaking apart, parents abandon kids. As a result, the number of children needing help has gone up, he says in an even tone, letting the words make their impact. For instance, SOS Varanasi has 119 orphaned/abandoned kids. “I expect this situation to be much worse in the next decade.” In India, both government funding and public donations are hard to come by. So, fund crunch means 10 or 11 kids in each family, which becomes “difficult to manage”.
But, amidst all these, he has learnt to stay equable. “Along with the big picture I try for a small immediate picture, where you can feel, see tangible results of your work.” Like how that newborn (‘first daughter’) who came home one night in Delhi got a name, did her Masters, and settled as a highly-paid executive.
“We cannot solve all problems,” he says philosophically. “We accept our limitations, but we can show a model that can be replicated with adaptations for cultural differences.” Governments are doing it, he says, we go into partnerships, completing the cycle. In Nepal, SOS creates families, builds homes, partnering with Habitat for Humanity. “Our Village numbers may be small, but we reach out to millions in our school through family-strengthening and community programmes.”
Children learn about environmental consciousness, to respect others’ faiths and help others. “We also make a conscious effort to make the Villages green.” SOS is about relationships, he says, it is a practitioner organisation. “Our families are rooted in local culture. Kids grow up prepared to adapt to the outside world.”
He manages SOS Villages in 133 countries from his headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, and has lost all fascination for travel. “I hate airports, the paraphernalia of customs, frisking, immigration.” However, he is “happy to meet youngsters, happy with results I can touch and feel.”
YOU can be a change agent; Sponsor a child today in any one of 33 SOS Children's Villages in India:
Siddhartha Kaul, president of SOS Children’s Villages International, who was in the city recently, says the number of children needing help has gone up
“Mom came into my room that cold night in Delhi and asked me to find out who was at the gate. I went out grumbling, and told the elderly guy to come in the morning. Mom said, ‘Look again, there’s another person behind the bush.’ Indeed, there was an aged woman cradling a newborn in her arms. I brought them in, helped them feed the baby. Word got around and a dozen mothers came forward to adopt the infant!” Siddhartha Kaul, president, SOS Children’s Villages International, narrates this incident by way of underlining his statement “I was pulled into this work”.
Sitting in the verandah of SOS Children's Village Tambaram, he talks of his 35-plus years of giving orphaned / abandoned kids a home. He speaks calmly, with no trace of pontification or no attempt at finger-pointing.
On a mission
He came to Madras, knew no Tamil, no one knew Hindi, “we all spoke English!” In the next two-and-a-half-years, he set up the Village, had it running. “My seniors saw my work, reckoned I was young and adventurous enough to be sent to Sri Lanka.” He set up SOS Children's Village in Piliyandala, and in the middle of the 1983 conflict, drove into Jaffna with a Tamil-speaking friend to see if he could start a programme. He managed to unite 300 kids with their parents, and Jaffna, now has sixth SOS Children's Village to house 72 kids.
He’s in Chennai for the first time as international president. “Mothers have retired, kids have grown and left, but the deep attachment from creating it stays.”
Families are breaking apart, parents abandon kids. As a result, the number of children needing help has gone up, he says in an even tone, letting the words make their impact. For instance, SOS Varanasi has 119 orphaned/abandoned kids. “I expect this situation to be much worse in the next decade.” In India, both government funding and public donations are hard to come by. So, fund crunch means 10 or 11 kids in each family, which becomes “difficult to manage”.
But, amidst all these, he has learnt to stay equable. “Along with the big picture I try for a small immediate picture, where you can feel, see tangible results of your work.” Like how that newborn (‘first daughter’) who came home one night in Delhi got a name, did her Masters, and settled as a highly-paid executive.
“We cannot solve all problems,” he says philosophically. “We accept our limitations, but we can show a model that can be replicated with adaptations for cultural differences.” Governments are doing it, he says, we go into partnerships, completing the cycle. In Nepal, SOS creates families, builds homes, partnering with Habitat for Humanity. “Our Village numbers may be small, but we reach out to millions in our school through family-strengthening and community programmes.”
Children learn about environmental consciousness, to respect others’ faiths and help others. “We also make a conscious effort to make the Villages green.” SOS is about relationships, he says, it is a practitioner organisation. “Our families are rooted in local culture. Kids grow up prepared to adapt to the outside world.”
He manages SOS Villages in 133 countries from his headquarters in Innsbruck, Austria, and has lost all fascination for travel. “I hate airports, the paraphernalia of customs, frisking, immigration.” However, he is “happy to meet youngsters, happy with results I can touch and feel.”
- SOS Villages work on four principles — mother, siblings, home, community
- The mother is the head of the family, and makes financial decisions
- The Village empowers women, helps kids grow up in a family environment
YOU can be a change agent; Sponsor a child today in any one of 33 SOS Children's Villages in India:
Online: www.soschildrensvillages.in
Telephone: +91-11- 4323 9200
Toll-free No.: 1800 102 6905
Email : soscvi@soscvindia.org
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