Children playing music at Children's Village Natitingou, Benin.…
On 29 September 2008, children from SOS Children's Village Natitingou made an excursion to Tori, about 100km from the capital of Benin, Cotonou. The trip was a treat for the children who had the best school results in class.
- Lisa
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Children playing music at Children's Village Natitingou, Benin.
On 29 September 2008, children from SOS Children's Village Natitingou made an excursion to Tori, about 100km from the capital of Benin, Cotonou. The trip was a treat for the children who had the best school results in class.
Faith is twelve years old. She lives at SOS Children's Village Natitingou. She is in the first year of the secondary school, and one of the best in her class. She was part of the trip and tells us her own experience.
Sunday 28 was the most exciting day. At eight o'clock in morning we left on the village bus, ready for our trip to Tori, with stops at Dassa-Zoume and Abomey-Calavi. Natitingou is very far from Abomey-Calavi. The distance is more than 500km; this is why we left the village so early. We arrived at SOS Children's Village Dassa-Zoune at about 12pm. We were warmly welcomed by SOS mothers who had prepared a very nice meal of rice and meat with tomato sauce. After lunch, we took a tour of the village. The family houses were beautifully built at the feet of the hills.
We said our goodbyes and headed for Abmey-Calavi. The stopover at Dassa-Zoume lasted only 45 minutes. We left the Dassa village with ten other children from the village who were also travelling to Tori for the same excursion.
From Dassa-Zoume to Abomey-Calavi, the road was very long because of its bad state and the density of the traffic. We passed again some big cities of our country such as Bohicon (meaning goat market in Fon, one of the most popular local languages in our country) and Allada with its royal palace beautifully decorated. By the roadside we were able to see heaps of pineapple, oranges, avocado and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are rare and expensive in Natitingou. Finally, we arrived at SOS Children's Village Abomey-Calavi at 16 o'clock where we spent the night in the family houses.
On Monday the 29th in the morning, after breakfast, we all left Abomey-Calavi for Tori. We were a total of 30 children i.e. ten children from each village in Natitingou, Dassa-Zoume and Abomey-Calavi.
We left Abomey-Calavi at nine o'clock and arrived at Tori at 1 pm. There were rooms for girls and rooms for boys. After the cleaning, we ate together with all the people in charge and the Caritas children. We had a siesta of hardly 25 minutes, after which we gathered together to play games, sing songs and dance. After that, we played football. In the evening I made two new freinds called Falonne and Tita. I will keep in touch with them.
On Tuesday 30th, after breakfast, we went to Ouidah, one of the historic cities of Benin. I was interested to discover this wonderful place and to see the beach, the sea, and historic monuments like the slavery's door. After that, we saw a film on the Natural Mineral Water fifa. In the evening after dinner, we danced to modern music before going to bed all tired. The following day, it was very difficult for all of us to leave our beds.
On Wednesday morning 31st, the last day, we traveled home. Each of us went with very good memories from this trip.
- Mary
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A girl helping her SOS mother washing the laundry at Children's Village Gulu, Uganda.
Richard Kinyera is the village director at the SOS Children's Village Gulu in northern Uganda. The village is part of an emergency relief project started over two years ago to assist orphans and abandoned children in the area.
There are many orphans in northern Uganda resulting from the war with the Lord's Resistance Army, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and poverty. Nearly three years ago SOS Children's Villages began an emergency relief programme encompassing a temporary children's village, a medical and social centre and a day care centre.
The social and medical centre is always busy and the is lots of work to care for children in the community, including job training, supplementary food distribution, health education and youth sports.
Richard Kinyera, as a father of two young children , finds the situation in Gulu, with abducted children, child soldiers and babies born in captivity, heartbreaking. He says "But after a while you see hard work pay off, and it's worth smiling."
According to Kinyera the children in the village come from various sources. Some are received direct from the army, he says, found on the battlefield. Some have been found in hospitals after LRA attacks, and others have been brought to the village by concerned friends.
After nearly two years of work for SOS Children's Villages", he continues, "if I look back I am able to say I've done something. Because I feel I've brought children here who by now could have died. There are some who were in serious risk, but now are at school and able to talk and are leading a normal life."
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