Interview with former SOS child and National Director for Sierra Leone
29/09/2008
Olatungie Woode's whole life is about SOS Children's Villages! Former SOS child, he is now the national director for SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone and can tell you a lot about it!
In 1974, Olatungie Woode was one of the first sets of children to grow up in SOS Children's Village Freetown, in Sierra Leone. Today, he's still part of SOS Children and occupies the position of national director for SOS Children Sierra Leone. His long experience within SOS Children in Sierra Leone enables him to give you a very good insight into the work and development of the organisation in the country.
How did you become national director and what does your position consist in?
I have been working for SOS Children Sierra Leone since 1994, after my studies in England. I first occupied, for a few months, the position of assistant village director for the SOS Children's Village in Freetown and was then appointed village director, a position I held from 1994 to December 1999. In 2000, I was appointed acting national director for SOS Children Sierra Leone, and was confirmed a year later in the position.
Basically, the role of the national director is to coordinate and ensure that the work of SOS Children Sierra Leone falls in line with our international rules and regulations in our prime aim of childcare. My office is also responsible for recruiting and training staff and co-workers and collaborating with government ministries as well as local and international NGO's. Most importantly again, I am also responsible for the safety of our children and all SOS Children projects in Sierra Leone.
At present there are two SOS Children's Villages in Sierra Leone (one in Freetown and one in Bo), two SOS Youth Facilities, one SOS Home for the Physically Challenged, two SOS Nursery Schools, two SOS schools, one SOS Vocational Training Centre, one SOS Social Centre and an SOS Children's Village; an SOS Nursery School and an SOS School are under construction in Makeni.
What were the major challenges faced by SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone?
The challenges since the establishment of SOS Children's Villages in Sierra Leone in 1974 have been enormous. To start with, it was very difficult for the communities in Sierra Leone to grasp and comprehend our work and its cause. For most people, SOS Children was an organisation to help all and sundry free of charge till doomsday. And so despite the idea was to care for children and youths in dire need, we had situations where all, grown ups, men and women, old and young, state authorities, believed they could come to SOS Children's Village Freetown and gain some kind of help, assistance, monies, you name it... It took SOS Children Sierra Leone a good number of years to eradicate this in the minds of people and for them to begin to know they rather were to support us and not the other way round.
The challenges we faced during the ten years of brutal war were extremely troubling to say the least. During the war, our two SOS Children's Villages of Freetown and Bo faced numerous difficulties coping with the horrible situation at that time. At one point, all children, mothers and youths of SOS Children's Village Bo were evacuated to Freetown and stayed there for nearly a year. Owing to the frequent invasions of SOS Children's Village Bo by some pocket rebels, the children had to flee into the bush for safety for two weeks. The rebels carted away bags of rice we had stored to feed the children and mothers.
The children had to survive on uncooked cassava tubers and some other wild fruits in the bush. It was a terrible situation! The worst of it all came in January 1999, when the city of Freetown came under complete siege by the rebels. The first three days of that siege saw 24 hours curfew. I had to put all the children and mothers in the underground basement, which I used to describe as 'bunkers'. I did this because indiscriminate bullets were flying all over the place. There was a time when the rebels had scattered all over the city and I had to brave it out into town to get food for the children and mothers as we had ran out of stock. This was a nightmare. How I did it all and was able to come back safe to the village with bags and bags of rice is a story I better not tell!
At one point in time, SOS Children's Village Freetown was raided twelve times in twenty-four hours, for food, monies, vehicles, etc. Mothers and children screened all over the place. Over two thousand women, children and old people from the surrounding communities ran into the village for shelter. Everyone yearned for evacuation to a nearby safe country, yet, I was determined to keep everyone together. How we survived was a miracle. Every other international NGO suffered either rape, looting to high degree or physical assault, but nothing to any scale happened to SOS Children Sierra Leone.
What major changes have you seen in SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone?
The major changes in SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone are dramatic. When I was a boy growing up in SOS Children's Village Freetown in 1974, when it officially started, we had only six family houses with 42 children. Today SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone has expanded immensely. We have two fully functional villages with a total of 27 family houses housing close to 320 children. The third SOS Children's Village in Makeni is close to complete and will begin operations soon. This village will cater for around 120 children.
Similar developments have been seen in other SOS Children's Village facilities. Today, more than 2,300 children benefit from our educational facilities in Freetown and Bo. Our schools and kindergartens do not only boast of numbers but equally with quality education which draws in the communities to our projects. Our SOS Hermann Gmeiner Schools in Sierra Leone are either in the first or second positions at all levels of national examinations.
The way we approach our work has also changed. Objectives have become clearer over the years and we are now more opened to partnerships and participation. The fact that we are able to share our expertise with other people is a good sign! Also today, our work is better understood and we are better accepted in communities in Sierra Leone than in the early part of SOS Children's Villages Sierra Leone.
Can you tell us more about the new SOS Children's Village in Makeni that should soon open its doors?
Makeni was chosen for the construction site of the third SOS Children's Village in Sierra Leone for several reasons. Being third largest provincial headquarter town in Sierra Leone and the regional headquarter for the Northern part of Sierra Leone, Makeni saw one of the worst rebel attacks and occupation. During the intensity of the war, Makeni became a "rebel stronghold" for over two years. During those rather unfortunately horrible years, "burning, looting, raping, abductions and all other negatives became the ‘breakfast, lunch and dinner'." Hundred of girls and women suffered in the hands of their unwanted visitors. Tens and tens got pregnant and left with unwanted babies; hundreds of children lost their parents and loved ones.
The construction of a third SOS Children's Village in Makeni was approved by SOS-Kinderdorf International in May 2005. To give you a realistic picture, let me briefly tell you about the composition of the children's village. To be honest with you, the new village in Makeni is unique in terms of architectural design and in accordance with the 'solid, modest and integrated' policies of SOS-Kinderdorf International. There will be twelve family houses, a kindergarten and a primary school and a house for the village director. In a few months SOS Children's Village Makeni will be completed for occupancy by the children.
A good number of staff has already been recruited to work in SOS Children's Village Makeni. The village director and assistant were recruited in September 2006, together with the prospective SOS mothers and 'aunties' (family helpers). All of them had received internal and external trainings in preparation for their profession. The twelve SOS mothers were also trained for two months at the SOS Regional SOS Mothers and Adult Training Centre in The Gambia, where they benefited from both theoretical and practical sessions on various child care and home management issues. All proudly came back with certificates!
As for children to be admitted in SOS Children's Village Makeni, they are not in short supply. Already over 224 children registered with the Makeni Social Welfare branch are being carefully screened to meet our criteria for admission into the village. More and more cases are streaming in and it will take some serious efforts and a few months to complete a proper screening. At full capacity, the village can accommodate 120 children, and if we have already over two hundred cases, then we must ensure we go for the right background of children; those who are in dire need of urgent parental care. This we will ensure!
Could you tell us more about growing up in SOS Children's Village Freetown?
My time as a boy in SOS Children's Village Freetown was interesting! At the start, things were quite dull, not moving much. At that time we were quite isolated from the community, relations were not allowed to visit us maybe for protective reasons, and the facilities were there, but no warmth to start it off, no initiatives. I was about seven years when I arrived in SOS Children's Village Freetown.
Soon after, Mr Josef Kittl and Mr Wilhem Huber, who are now respectively SOS Children's Villages regional directors for North/West Africa and East Africa, came to start the first SOS Youth Facility in Sierra Leone. By then, ten of us, aged nine and above, were separated from the other children in the village and transferred to this new youth home. Life really started! Proper boys or men business, training, joggings in the mornings, camping, swimming, football, different sports, you name it...and of course different discipline! We were being trained to manhood. Very good and memorable times indeed!
I was quite troublesome; I did all the pranks from fighting, climbing trees to ravaging fruits. There are many funny stories in retrospect that I would love to share but this will take many, many pages! I think I was a normal frisky kid. But I was doing very well in school so I became the leader of all the others. I was mostly liked by Mr Kittl and Mr Huber, particularly so because of that. Both of them contributed a lot in making me what I am today and I must use this opportunity to tell them 'thank you'!
I think I have no regret during my stay in the SOS Children's Villages. As a result of fate, I had no choice in the first place and of course it was an opportunity that has paid me well!
What else would you like to say to the readers?
I would like to say a few things to the reading public. First, I would like to ask of them wherever they are to continue to support the work of SOS Children's Villages for it is a noble cause. Their financial and moral support, no matter how small, will certainly make a difference in the life of a child waiting for your help somewhere near or far away from you. My story as a former SOS child should inspire you to do that. Think of what I would have become when my parents died when I was young and all relations somehow neglected me, had it not been through the care and comfort of SOS Children's Villages. Fate can befall anyone at anytime and without your care and attention, without your financial support, many will perish. I leave you with the words of Hermann Gmeiner: "most people however, have a natural sense of responsibility towards others; I call this feeling of social responsibility the 'social conscience'". My appeal to you is to use this 'social conscience' to help SOS Children's Villages help many children!
Relevant Countries: Sierra Leone.