SOS Village

Lilia, let’s start with some general information about your organization. What is SOS children’s village? 

-SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental international charity organisation which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. We work for children who are orphaned, abandoned or whose families are unable to care for them.

Please tell us about the beginning. How did it all start?

Hermann Gmeiner

- Well, Medical student Hermann Gmeiner from Austria was a soldier in Russia during the Second World War. He had experienced the horrors of war himself and saw the sufferings of the many war orphans and homeless children after the end of the war. The young man, who grew up in a farming family and lost one of his parents at an early age, was shocked at how those children are pushed aside and kept “out of sight". He was certain that help can only be effective if every child can grow up in a family or in a family-like environment. With a small amount of money (about 40 $) Hermann Gmeiner established the SOS Children's Village Association in 1949.

What are your global achievements?

- Since its founding in 1949, SOS Children's Villages has expanded to 500 villages in 132 countries. We are currently raising over 80,000 children in our villages and through our many education, family strengthening, medical, and outreach programmes, we change the lives of over 1 million people each year. 

Could you tell us about your work in Belarus?

- Belarus was severely affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. It was for this reason that SOS Children’s Villages decided to build a village, which as well as providing a home for orphaned children, would also include a medical centre for children suffering from the effects of radiation.

At present we support over 3,000 people in Belarus through three SOS Children’s Villages, three SOS Youth Homes and nine SOS Social Centres.

You’re saying there are 3 children’s villages in Belarus.

- Right. In 1991 the state government gave SOS Children’s Charity a plot of land in Borovljany, not far from Minsk. The village has thirteen family houses which are home to 100 children. A second SOS Children's Village was opened in 2004 in Maryina Gorka, about 25 miles from Minsk and it consists of 12 family houses for 84 children. A third SOS Children’s Village has recently been constructed in Mogilev, Belarus’ third largest town, and it will provide a home to 91 little children.

What exactly happens to a child who comes to live in an SOS village?

- Children who have been abandoned or orphaned come to SOS Children's Villages where they are integrated into a loving family environment.  They are cared for and supported by a SOS Mother and up to 10 other children in their SOS home who become their SOS brothers and sisters. Strong family ties develop within these "SOS families", and even after the children are grown and leave the village, these family relationships continue. 

There are 9 social centres in Belarus. What makes them so necessary?

- Many families in Belarus face unemployment and struggle with a range of social problems including alcoholism and mental health issues. I’ll give you an example.

We recently helped one family make a positive change. The mother had been born to alcoholic parents and had been very neglected as a child. She now has three children and was living in poor conditions. After her husband's death Olga became an alcoholic and struggled to care for her children. The state wanted to take the children away, but we could see she had a good attitude and really wanted to improve her situation. We helped her find work and clean her house and gave her the necessary tools to care for the children. Today, the children are still with their mother and the family have been given a chance.
However, not every story has a happy ending. We came across an 11-year-old boy who had been living in extreme poverty. He had lived through his father’s death and his grandmothers’ death and was not doing well. He was taken away from his mother by the state and placed in an orphanage. He then became depressed and tried to kill himself. The boy is now receiving help from SOS Children, but I know that his future remains uncertain.

Lilia, what keeps you going when faced with such difficult cases?

My biggest joy is when I see a family who have been able to make a change for the better thanks to the help of SOS Children.

Many children, despite their difficult start, go to become happy independent adults. For example, Vlad came to the Village as a seven year old boy. His mother had sold their flat so she could fund her alcohol addiction. He now works as an SOS Education Coordinator in our projects. 

Maxim and his sister Ekaterina came to the SOS Children’s Village when they were 5 and 3 years old, after their alcoholic mother could no longer look after them. Today, Maxim works for the Village as an Assistant to the Village Master and Ekaterina is studying linguistics at Minsk University.

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1. Explain the difference: orphaned and abandoned child.

2. Give the English equivalents to the given words and word-combinations:

• благотворительная организация;
• заботиться о ком-либо;
• родиться в семье алкоголиков;
• запущенный/заброшенный ребенок;
• измениться к лучшему;
• страдания;
• основать (ассоциацию);
• заботиться и поддерживать;