Do Page Eight
The Children in Her Care
How do you interact with the educators?We have got five educators altogether. Three of them are in the village and two are in the youth home. The educators visit each family every day and are in close contact with the SOS mothers. If something is wrong with one of the children, if for example, the child is developing slowly either physically or mentally, I'll ask the educator for advice. Each of them has their own field of expertise. One is for learning, one for general activities and another for music and movement. Generally I work with them all. They all do their best to support the children's development.
Do you have development plans here in Vietnam?
We work out a development plan for each child in the village. This means that the village has information about which training centre would be most suitable for a particular child and which children will be allowed to continue their studies. If I have a grown-up child, who is about to take his "A"-levels and go to university, I ask that child, "Which university would you like to go to and which institute would you like to be at? And, if you don't make it, what sort of job training would you like to do?" An SOS mother has to ask the children questions; she has to guide and advise them. Then she has to tell the village administration, who gets in touch with the training centre. The village director and the educator both write regular reports on each child's development.
Are you still in touch with those children who have already left your family?
Normally my children all come to visit me when they have time off. If they're very busy, they'll phone me to see how I am and sometimes I visit my children who are living in the youth home, or who are married. If one of the youths living in the youth facility is ill and has a temperature, I go to visit him, to take care of him. All the SOS mothers do the same.
What do you wish for your girls and boys?
I hope that they will find good jobs with a good income. I hope that the boys will lead good lives and will marry good women. I hope that the girls will find good jobs and have regular incomes and I hope that they will choose good husbands. I hope that they will all have happy family lives with their own families.
To My Colleagues Around the World
I would like to send my respectful greetings to all other SOS mothers in the world. From the bottom of my heart I wish them all health, and luck and happiness with their children. With bests wishes from Mrs Nguyen Thi Do, SOS mother from SOS Children's Village Hanoi.
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.