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SOS Villages Botswana
The extended family whereby members, especially children, are cared for and nurtured by elder siblings, aunts or uncles in the absence of biological parents, is a practice which has held pride of place in African culture. Orphans and children out of wedlock have traditionally been absorbed into the family and grown up happily into balanced people.
Changes in community life became evident after rural to urban migration in many countries. The stability of the family was shaken and the advent of "street children" necessitated various forms of intervention. There were also abandoned babies and children living under undesirable conditions with single parents who were unable to cope. As a result, institutions which give care to orphans have sprung up in some centres. The institution that I am familiar with is the SOS Villages of Botswana.
The concept of the Village was to establish a home where children would grow up in as near a normal family situation as possible. Each home had a mother and an assistant mother to look after a maximum of 12 children. The ages of the children were to simulate the age differences of children in biological families. Siblings from families were kept together. The mothers were to have had children of their own.
Children are accepted on the recommendation of the Social Welfare Department that the biological family is unable to look after them. A process of legal adoption is entered into so that the children are wards of SOS. However, if and when the adverse family situation is resolved, the biological family can officially claim the children back. Families are free and welcome to visit the children at any time.
The beginning in 1988 saw the admission of about 20 children. Over the years, the numbers have risen. Presently, there are 226 inmates of the Gaborone Village. In 1998, a second SOS village was built in Francistown and it is home to 239 children.
The ages of children admitted range from two weeks to ten years. One child admitted at two weeks of age is now ten years old. Once the age of 14 is reached, the children are transferred to a youth house where they learn to look after themselves and to socialise outside the SOS family. The youth house for girls is attached to the Village and the boys have a youth house in town, financed by the Village and overseen by the Village staff. Once sufficient maturity has been reached, they are encouraged to be absorbed into the biological family which they have been in touch with all the time.
In its 18 years, the SOS Village Association has seen children qualifying as electricians, policemen, plumbers and craftsmen. Presently, one is studying to become a dentist, while others are engaged in pre-university courses. Two years ago I had the exciting experience of being served in a jewellery shop by a beautiful, pleasant young girl who followed me outside the shop to tell me that she was an SOS child.
The SOS Villages are widely accepted as community homes for orphans. Presently a third home is in the process of construction in a large village in the central part of the country. Funding for the homes comes from Austria (where the concept of SOS Villages originated after the war), Botswana Government and a Danish SOS funding organisation.
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