Child sponsorship letter from Estonia
20/11/2007
Dear sponsor!
Time passes quickly and again it is summer. In Estonia the beginning of the holiday season has been very beautiful weather is nice and warm and the sun is shining. Schoolchildren have been busy with finishing school and making last exams, smaller ones can just enjoy playing outside. This year has been eventful. Let’s look into some of them!
In December, Raio Piiroja, FIFA Ambassador for SOS Children's Village Keila, spent a sporty day in the village and it ended with a rather surprising outcome. After completing the season in Norway and winning Estonia's best footballer's title, Mr Piiroja came to the village to have fun with children. This time he did not came alone - he took the best female footballer in Estonia, Ave Pajo, with him.
Both footballers formed a team and the football match on the new sports ground lasted a whole hour. The girl's team led by Raio Piiroja won the match. After the game, there were some more competitions to attend and then everybody headed to the school hall, where they had a chance to interact with the footballers.
Mr Piiroja said that the sports ground has a very good quality. ‘Sometimes the artificial pitches can be dangerous, but this one is a very good one and I hope there will be no injuries to kids.’ The children gave some presents to the footballers and got some gifts from them as well. Raio Piiroja also talked to the village's best footballer Markko and they exchanged e-mail addresses.
One of the most surprising outcomes of the footballers visit was that couple of girls got an idea to join the village’s football-training group. ‘I like football, I talked to Estonia's best female footballer and now I want to train,’ says 14-year-old Kalli.
On March 8, Estonia's First Lady Evelin Ilves took over the honorary post of patron to support SOS Children's Village Keila. To that occasion children performed national games and songs; the ceremony ended with symbolic group photo of SOS mothers and Mrs Ilves to celebrate the International Women's Day.
Evelin Ilves, the wife of Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, said that she has been offered many honorary posts, but has accepted only two. ‘I believe in the idea of SOS Children's Villages,’ she explained why she agreed to continue the work of the previous first ladies.
‘SOS Children's Village Keila is one of the rare places where the whole village is full of fine families. It is a good idea - SOS Children's Village Keila is using one of the best models in Estonia's child welfare system - and it must be supported,’ she told. Margus Oro, national director of SOS Children's Villages Estonia, said that nominating Mrs Ilves patron of the village is highly important as she has always had the nerve to point out the hot spots of the society no matter her title or position.
After the ceremony, the First Lady participated in the mothers' roundtable to get more insight of the work of the village. ‘Every mother gave a brief overview of her life and work and she asked few questions,’ tells SOS mother Mare. ‘She - a psychiatrist by education - was interested in how the mothers share their time. It was not her first time in the village, last year she visited us together with Ukrainian First Lady. Maybe that's why the atmosphere was very warm and nice; anyway, the roundtable was planned for 20 minutes, but lasted actually an hour.’
The fact that there are many friends and people who care, is very important to our children. You are those people and we all are very glad to have such friends with us. We are very grateful to you and wish you the best summertime!
Margus Oro
National Director
Relevant Countries: Estonia.