Child sponsorship update from Bambous
14/08/2007
Update from July 2007
Dear sponsor and friend of SOS Children’s Village Bambous,
It is with much pleasure that we are writing to you. This gives us the opportunity to keep you informed about the village, especially about the children who are growing up in a peaceful and happy atmosphere.
We are now 51 children at the Village. Since January this year, there has been only one new admission to SOS Children’s Village Bambous. For this first six months of the year we have had some important developments in our village to support the quality of our care. Four children were transferred to a specialised schools named ANFEN (Adolescent Non Formal Education network), which cares for kids with serious learning difficulties. This new school has the appropriate pedagogical tools that suit the needs of these children. Also, being out of the village allows the children to have more socialisation. Following this change, the village teacher’s role was redefined. She now works closely with the Mothers in family houses to help the children with their home work and to overcome their individual difficulties in education. Since May, an additional educator was recruited to assist the village teacher in her job. Some children showed good progress during the second term and can also easily read their text books.
Besides, an additional psychologist has been recruited on a part time basis since February. Now 25 children are being followed by three psychologists. The progress for some of them is quite visible. However, some children sometimes regress for various reasons and need further support.
One last point on the staff side, our Children’s Village has employed a Social Worker on a full time basis. Her presence in the village allows us to be more focused in addressing the social and emotional problems of our children. She also coordinates the children’s activities. Some of these are dancing, athletics, football, scouting, and musical. We also take care of our SOS Mothers who are our key staff members. As you know it is not easy to handle kids who have been neglected and been on the streets for a long time. To help them cope with this very demanding task and to relax, our SOS Mothers attend Yoga sessions once a week and they enjoy that.
On March 12, the Republic of Mauritius celebrates the National Day. For this very important event, we invited the Director of La Pirogue Hotel, one of the main hotel groups of the island, situated some 25 km away from the Village, as our guest of honour. It was his first visit in an SOS Children’s Village and he was greatly impressed and moved by the kids. After the flag raising ceremony, the whole village gathered in the hall for a show prepared by the children for that occasion. Indeed, the kids cutely performed sega dances (a Mauritian folkloric dance - a form of hip swaying dance peculiar to Mauritius, with its origins from African rhythm), songs and poems on the island.
In March this year, our beautiful island once again hosted some 38 American students who came from American universities under the Semester at Sea programme. They visited our village and they were really impressed by the infrastructure and caregivers available for our kids.
With the view to empowering and developing our children, an elementary first-aid course was organised at the Village. Indeed, in April two members of the St John Ambulance came to our place for demonstration of practical interventions in case of personal accidents. Some 15 children attended the course. Stephane, 15 years, was very enthusiastic: “I have learnt new things, precisely how to behave towards the one who is injured”.
On the SOS Day, we wanted to have a special event. The decision was taken to visit a Home for elderly persons. It was an interesting experience for our young ones to meet the elders. The rest of the day was spent at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (name of the first Prime Minister and ex-President of the country) Botanical Garden (situated in Pamplemousses in the north of Mauritius). This garden is well known for its large collection of some 500 different species of plants introduced during the colonial times. The appreciation of the children can be seen in their own words: “Father, why don’t we have such outings during the year” asked the children on their way home.
The kids will continue to enjoy their holidays that end on Monday 13 August 2007.
Wishing you all the best for the rest of the year, the Board members and the staff of the SOS Children’s Villages also thank you and your family for your invaluable support and interest in the well-being of our children.
Yours sincerely,
Jean Marie Pazot, Village Manager and Amédée Dabeecharun, National Director
Sponsor's update from Beau Bassin
Update from SOS Children's Village Beau Bassin
Please accept the greetings of our staff and our dear little ones, who are, as usual, cheerful and lively. We are again bringing you fresh news from SOS Children’s Village Beau Bassin and we hope that you are enjoying a good health and that everything is going well for you. We also take this opportunity to reiterate our deepest thanks to you for your support to our Village.
We are now a population of 102 children at the Village. There has been many new admissions to the Village during the past months. In April, we had the pleasure to welcome a baby of 10 months. It’s a baby girl and she is the spoilt child of the Village. Every SOS child wants to take care of her. Our eldest child at the Village is a youth of 18 years old. She is now working and is becoming quite autonomous. She is looking forward to have a house of her own and create her own family.
This year, started with a cyclone, which affected the island in February. The cyclone caused damages to the agriculture and we had much difficulty to get fresh vegetables. The only positive thing about cyclones is that it fills our reservoirs and relieves us from shortages of water. Yet, another sad news is the sudden death of one of our youth leaders, Didier, who passed away at the young age of 26. He was so young, energetic and loved by all of us. Within less than two weeks, in spite of all effort by all medical staff, he could not be saved. We had much difficulty to make his youths overcome this traumatising moment.
In spite of the sad events, the children are in their usual activities - school, personal activities and events. Recently, two of our children participated in a National Indian music and dance contest namely “Jori No. 1”, which was broadcasted on our local television. We were really proud to see their performance and they were congratulated by many for their participation. This also increased awareness on our organisation.
On Sunday, 27th May 2007 all children celebrated mothers day. During the week preceding the event the children were secretly preparing a small show and buying small gifts for them. The mothers were really surprised and some got emotional when the children sang songs, recited poems and presented gifts to thank them. The SOS mothers rightly said on that day that their greatest reward for their hard work was the “thank you” expressed by the children.
Dear sponsor, we thank you once again, for your invaluable support that helps us care for our children. You have the kind regards of all of them.
Yours sincerely,
Rajen Jugnarain, Village Manager and Amédée Dabeecharun, National Director
Relevant Countries: Mauritius.