SOS VILLAGE: Fostering a culture of love
Motherhood is a blessing. The highlight of a woman’s life can sometimes be summed up in the smiles and words of her children. Ethan, my teenage son, teaches me to communicate. With him I have learned to listen with my eyes, see with my ears, touch with my words, think with my heart, and feel with my mind. He never fails to turn my world upside down and in the process makes me a better person. Kirby, my 12-year old, asked me, “Mom, when we die, will we be together in heaven?” As a child asks for reassurance, he can make a parent think about life’s purpose and mission. Basti, my youngest, asked me to write him an excuse letter for being absent from school for a day. He said, “Mom, tell Teacher Jay I was sick of malaria or that I have a liver problem.” We both started laughing. Light and funny moments like this make me appreciate that, even within a single family, children can be so different from one another. While my eldest challenges me to think, my second reminds me to be introspective, and my youngest — well, he teaches me to just be. My children are my best friends.
And then things come full circle. As the mother makes her children better people, children make the parent a fuller individual. Children in their uniqueness and inherent goodness help a parent or guardian become wiser, more compassionate, intuitive, more purpose-driven.
How rich it is to be a mother and multiply the love so that the same child ends up enriching another life!
Such is the case with Luz Javier Valencia, one of the SOS Children’s Village foster mothers. To date, Mama Luz has cared for a total of 24 children.
At the SOS Children’s Village, orphans, abandoned and neglected children are given long-term care and education in a familial environment from the age of three to the time they leave for college and stay at a boarding house. An SOS Village is a compound of around 10 homes, each housing a maximum of 10 children at a time. The children are cared for and nurtured by an SOS Mother who, on a full-time basis, looks after the children and handles practical issues like cooking, cleaning, shopping, budgeting.
When asked what inspired her to love and care for 24 neglected children as if they were here own, Mama Luz talks about her experiences with a loving family. She fondly recalls a situation at the age of nine when her mother saved her from choking on a fishbone. It was just one of the many episodes in her young life when she started to appreciate the value of a mom’s constant care and devotion.
As her own mother had been for her, Mama Luz plays the role of an exceptional parent to her foster children. One of her foster children is Mercy. Mama Luz traveled a great distance to ensure that Mercy got the treatment and medical attention she needed. Mercy’s cerebral palsy did not deter her from being the happy and well-adjusted person that she is today, Mercy would even animatedly tell her story with her hands to people she meets. Another child Mama Luz fostered, Miss Francis Santos, now trains women to become SOS Mothers. She recounts the careful attention Mama Luz would put into preparing her meals and the loving way she shared stories about God. Frances has since become a resource person of all SOS Mothers.
Mama Luz from the S.O.S community in Lipa is one of the many devoted and pioneering mothers. She is a proud mother to children who are now benefactors and teachers of the SOS community.
Harris is now a first-class pilot. He still remembers his young life as a cigarette vendor. The SOS came into the picture and got him and his sister off the streets. They were provided a home life and sent to school. While in grade school, a visitor from SwissAir asked him what he wanted to be — he wanted to fly. The visitor eventually sponsored his education in one of the local airline schools.
Roger is in the faculty of La Salle, Lipa. As a student, he won competitions in the Arts. As a member of the Arts Guild, his works were exhibited abroad. Two stories among the thousands. Harris and Roger are only two of the many who were cared for by an SOS Mother. The concept of a solid foundation is engrained in the person as he learns to manage his life. The SOS Village is a Western setup adjusted to the Filipino culture.
Together with his wife, Harris is a hands-on parent to his children. They are committed sponsors.
On the 40th anniversary of the SOS Village, Roger made several sculptures of the Mother and Child which he named “Vessels of Love.” They were sold and made money for the community. He also facilitates creative classes for the SOS Mothers.
In all starts with one caring person giving love to one child at a time. The selfless love of an SOS Mother is encoded in the personal story of every child who has been cared since once upon a time. This makes the SOS Village an interdependent structure where every child is loved, enriches his personal life, and in his journey back, helps another child.
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Join us and be part of the SOS Friends Campaign. Visit www.sosphilippines.org. Help support a child today. Call 807-0764 or 850-9654. Or e-mail home@sosphilippines.org.
