Maquette Page One
The Story of Her Life
Does your family come to visit you in the SOS Children's Village?
Yes, they come here a lot, mostly on Sunday afternoons. I also go to my family on the five days off I have a month and am with my own children then. My children get on well with the children in my SOS family. They go to the same school and often play together. The youngest two are just like brothers. They are almost the same age.
Is there anybody in your family to whom you are particularly close?
My mother and my sister. My sister is a seamstress here in the SOS Children's Village and at the same time she's my good friend. We are always together when I have time off. My own children live with her.
When you talk about your family, who does that include?
Parents, brothers and sisters, cousins and the children who live in the house.
Do you mean the children from your natural family or the children from your SOS family?
Of course the children from my SOS family also belong to my family. When there is an Islamic religious festival such as the Tabasic festival (Note: the mutton festival) then, after the celebrations here in the SOS Children's Village, I take my children to visit my family to pay our respects. They call my mother "grandmother". We often go to my family at weekends and the children play together or do each other's hair. My family accepts and loves these children. They don't differentiate between my real children and my children from the SOS Children's Village.
My father was the "Chef de Quartier", the head person in this district. He was there when they laid the cornerstone for the SOS Children's Village and knew Hermann Gmeiner. When Hermann Gmeiner died, a book was laid out in the office where people could make their entries. My father wrote in the book twice to express his sorrow. He summoned all the important people from the district to come together and pray. I don't know how often they met but every time Hermann Gmeiner was here, my father was with him. My father loved him from the bottom of his heart.
Apart from visiting your family, is there anything else you like to do in your free time?
On the days that I spend with my family I'm usually busy with the children. I help them learn for school and keep an eye on their progress. That's what I love to do.
Do you have such a thing as a role model, somebody you admire?
Hermann Gmeiner. I love Hermann Gmeiner. Nobody can ever repay him for what he did. Only God can reward him. Hermann Gmeiner wasn't a rich man, he was just a doctor, but he had beautiful ideas which he realised. I can't really express what I feel for him. God asked the people to help each other. Hermann Gmeiner did more than that. He helped with no view to religion, nationality or culture. He helped all around the world.
Could you tell us about a particularly wonderful memory you have of your life?
The happiest moment of my life was when I was given the job at the SOS Children's Village. I was divorced, had eight children and no work. It was the most wonderful new perspective for both myself and my children to be able to work in the SOS Children's Village.
That must also have been one of the most difficult moments in your life too? Yes, of course: no work, eight children and no husband. You can only earn money by working and money allows me to give the children what they need - food and education. Money is the key to life.
Motivation for Her Choice of Profession
"Then the village director said I could apply to be an SOS aunt."
My father was a member of the local council and everything that happened in our district went through him. That's why I knew the SOS Children's Village. I was divorced and unemployed. My sister was working as a seamstress in the SOS Children's Village and so I asked if I could work there as a washing lady. But they already had somebody. Then the village director said I could apply to be an SOS aunt. There was a course for SOS mothers and SOS aunts just starting in Dakar. I quickly got my documents together and my sister lent me 5,000 CFA Francs so I could do it all. That's how I got on the course to be an SOS aunt. That was in 1995 and I worked as an SOS aunt until 1998.
How did you become an SOS mother?
The SOS mother in this house was retiring. The village director chose me, from amongst all the SOS aunts, to be her replacement. I thanked God and was happy. I loved my work as an SOS aunt and the children too. They were all children who hadn't had the good fortune to be able to live with their parents.
How did your family take the news that you were to become an SOS aunt and then an SOS mother?
Of course, the family was happy that I was going to be an SOS aunt here. Then, when after all those years I became an SOS mother, they were over the moon. One of my cousins bought me an alarm clock because an SOS mother has to get up early.
How did you explain to your own children that you were going to become an SOS mother?
My own children already knew the SOS Children's Village because we lived nearby. They also knew what sort of children were living here. So it was easy to explain to them the tasks I would have here and that I wanted to be the same for these children, who had no parents of their own, as I was to them.
Maquette'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.