Do Page Four

Experiences as an SOS Mother

"I had to change and learn new things, in order to be able to cope with the demands made on me."
I arrived in the village in October 1989. I was given my first children in January 1990. By the end of that year I already had eleven children and we were a family. I had to get up early in the mornings to feed the baby and make the children's breakfast. I didn't have an SOS aunt to help me and so I did all the housework myself. After I had fed the baby, I helped the three-year-old. As soon as I had made the older children's breakfast, I got them ready for school. There wasn't an SOS Kindergarten in the village then and we had to leave the babies and smaller children with another SOS mother if we wanted to go to the market. When I got back from the market, I prepared lunch. Then I washed the little ones' clothes until the children came home from school. As soon as they came home, I taught them to wash their faces and hands before sitting down to eat. In the afternoons, I would play with the little ones, give them a bath at about half past four and then cook dinner. We all sat down to dinner together and afterwards we would watch the children's programmes on television. During the night I had to feed the youngest one twice and I would keep checking that the children were all lying in the correct position. I don't have a small child at the moment, but at night I still check to see that the children have got all their arms and legs under the mosquito net. That's a day in the life of an SOS mother.

How has your working relationship with the other SOS mothers developed?
I get on well with all the other SOS mothers in the village. We are like one big family. If there is a sick child in one of the families, we all get together to find out what has happened and to see if we can help. We have been the same group of SOS mothers since the village opened. Only one woman left, because her family did not agree with her being here. The woman who replaced her was on the same training course as us and worked as an SOS aunt until she was made an SOS mother.

What is your working relationship with the village director like?
I have never had any problems with the village director, nor with the other co-workers. Every time I had any difficulties in bringing up my children I asked them for advice and they helped me. Basically, all the staff here, the SOS mothers, the village director and the other co-workers have the same job and that is to support the children's development and to ensure them a secure future.

What has your experience been of having a female village director? As you probably know, most of our village directors are men.
If the village director is a woman, she will help us with the babies. The first village director was married and she lived in the village with her family. Because she had her own children, she knew how difficult it was to look after a baby. When I took the baby in, she helped me to feed and bathe it. She also always had a lot of understanding for the other SOS mothers. She supported us in carrying out our tasks and explained things to us that either we did not know, or did not understand. I think that the village director's main task is to be there so that I can talk to him or her when I need support.

Do's Story:
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All these mother's stories come from SOS Children's Village Hermann Gmeiner Academy. Copyright is reserved and no unauthorized use permitted. Use for non-commercial purposes may be requested. The interviews telling about the lives of some SOS Mothers form part of an interesting study on being a replacement Mother to children in need in SOS Children's communities worldwide.