From the orphans of SOS children’s village

Saidi Nasib grew up without knowing her father.

His mother told him the man he was yearning to meet had disowned him before he was born.

At the age of twelve, the now 19 year old was dealt another huge blow when his mother died. “I never had anyone other than my mother, so I never counted on losing her,” he says.

After the death of his mother Saidi lived like an outcast in the quite village of Stalike in Mpanda Katavi.

Saidi was forced to beg for food and shelter from other villagers in order to survive. Occasionally, he would have to endure a barrage of insults from other villagers who found him a nuisance. “I had to take refuge at my grandparents’ house who were both alive at the time.”

It didn’t take long before his grandfather also passed on. Unable to support herself let alone a child, Saidi’s grandmother was left with no choice but to give him up to good samaritans.

“She told me that she could not stand seeing me suffer when she was still alive though she didn’t openly tell me of what she planned,” recalls Saidi.

Then one day, someone who had introduced himself as an official from an orphanage in Dar es Salaam visited his grandmother’s house and requested to take Saidi with him.

Saidi had no choice but to concede as he was too young to refute his grandmother’s wishes. Saidi went with the man from the orphanage, travelling with him all the way from Katavi to Dar es Salaam in 2008.

“Dar was a very new environment for me, it was not at all like back home. For a while missed my mother’s love and care terribly,” recalls Saidi.

Seven years on, Saidi has learnt to live and cope without his mother and in a new environment.

He now considers every boy and girl in the village as one of his own.

A new home

Now a Form Five student at St Matthews Secondary School specialising in history geography and economics (HGE), Saidi is one of 150 orphans at SOS Children’s Village, a centre located behind Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

Saidi is pleased to say that he has now put all his miseries behind him, though he is still nostalgic about his home.

What he enjoys the most about life in the village is the fact that he can go to school and not worry about school fees.

The SOS Children’s Village has been supporting the country’s vulnerable children since its establishment in 2007 by proving free homes, a family, free education and medical care.

Protecting the family unit

Through its Family Strengthening Programme(FSP), the village works to ease the poverty and daily hardship experienced by many families as well as protecting the family unit.

“Children develop best when they are part of a family, so we help families to stay together through our community outreach programmes,” quips Mama Rukia Mkaima, an SOS mother at the village.

She says that when a child loses parental care, the village offers him a new family in an SOS Children’s Village.

The village has children of all age groups; the oldest being 20 years while the youngest four months.

“The youngest came here a half month ago. His name is Baraka , he will only learn about what happened to him when he reaches 18,” says Mama Rukia. When a member reaches 23, according to Mama Tulipo Mwakajumba, another SOS mother, they are considered mature enough to take care of themselves but are welcomed back if all doesn’t go well.

Similar stories

The children of the SOS have similar stories of how they came to be at the village, but each one has been strengthened and made more unique by their experiences.

Velestina Justine is a young girl bubbling with hope. Her dream is to one day become a model and she is considered the darling of the SOS village.

But the 15 year old still harbours the pain of her childhood in Dumila, Morogoro. “My father passed away when I was still young leaving me with my mother and younger sister,” she says.

Velestina then had to drop out of school while in Standard Three in order to help her mother work on the farm. Just like Saidi, she too had to beg from good Samaritans for food and bare necessities. “Our mother couldn’t afford to raise us, she handed us to some people who brought us to Dar es Salaam.”

But unlike Saidi, it didn’t take the now Form One student long to settle into life at the village. She befriended everyone, a move which she says greatly helped her erase the bitter memories of Dumila. “Here we live like a family, we eat the same food. My favourite meal has to be chips,” she says while chuckling.

Velestina is happy to see their mother who occasionally visits her and her younger sister at the village. “It’s difficult to hold back tears when we see her here, we really miss her,” she shares.

I asked her what she thinks of the Day of the African Child celebrated today, Velestina eloquently replies that society as a whole as well as parents should work hard to protect others like herself. “We need to be protected, we don’t belong to orphanages, we belong to families,” she says.

Indeed, unwilling or unable parents are the main reasons for children ending up at the village. Sometimes children are taken to the home against their will or through some sort of deceit by adults.

It took a father’s lie for Godfrey Obadiah and his young brother to find themselves at the SOS Children’s Village.

Their father put them in car with some SOS officials under the pretext that they were going to Dar es Salaam for some clothes shopping. “Maybe he did not want to tell us what he intended to do, but that’s how we found ourselves here,” says the 16 year old. Godfrey says it all started at their village in Himo, Kilimanjaro when their mother died.

“My two other brothers had already left before our mother passed away, I lost their contacts, I was only six back then,” recalls Godfrey.

Godfrey and his brother arrived in Dar es Salaam in 2007 and have since found a new home at the village.

The future looks bright

Godfrey, who dreams of becoming an astronaut, was enrolled at Loyola High School for high school before excelling in the exams offered by the SOS Village of Ghana. Godfrey will soon board a flight to Ghana for a four year course in one month.

“The village had tested us for a Distance International Programme, I’m among the lucky few to have passed with flying colours,” he adds. Godfrey says he is sad that he will be leaving his brother behind, but still hopes that they will reunite after four years, though if he continues to do well, he will get other scholarships.

[email protected]