Elena Page Five

Could you tell us about a particularly beautiful and a particularly difficult experience to do with the children?
It was terrible to see how underdeveloped the children were. It was difficult for me to see how I could support them. Even today, now that they are old enough to do it themselves, they often ask me to feed them with a spoon. They missed out on that when they were younger. However, it's a great joy for me to see that they're catching up on all the abilities they didn't have before. If I see that they have worked hard I'm happy, even if they only come home from school with a "D". Together we have made a great step forward.

Are the social welfare services for children involved when a child comes to the SOS Children's Village?
Yes, there's a section for guardianship in the local authority and they choose which children are to come to the SOS Children's Village. There's also an orphanage, which is run by the Spanish Red Cross. They gather children up from the railway stations and try to find their relatives. Some of those children then come to us. Sometimes older people come with their grandchildren or nephews and nieces and ask if the children can be taken in here because they're afraid that if they die the children will be left on their own.

To My Colleagues Around the World

I wish for every SOS mother to be able to create an enclave of love within their own families and their villages. This love should extend across the whole world and then there will be no more war and no more abandoned children.

The Russian author, Dostojevski said, "It's impossible to create a happy world if, in order to do so, a single teardrop of one innocent child has to be shed." If we are successful in creating this enclave of love then we can do without the children's tears. That would change the way people think and they would only think good thoughts. I hope that the day will come when there are no abandoned children any more and no abandoned old people either. The first step towards this is that the child must be loved and respected within the family. The children have to learn to see themselves in a positive light. They have to love themselves and be loved just for the fact that they exist and are in this world. Once a child appreciates his own value then he can understand the value of others.

Elena'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.