Mother and child hugging with tenderness - CV Morelia, Mexico…

Mother and child hugging with tenderness - CV Morelia, Mexico

Patricia is a six-year-old girl with big red cheeks that make her look very pretty. Like many other children in Mexico, she suffered a painful experience: she was abandoned at an early age. Patricia went through a difficult time before she could consider SOS Children's Village Morelia her new home.

Patricia in search of a family

The abandonment

About one and a half years ago, a very young woman knocked at the door of the 'Felicitas del Río' foster home in Morelia City. The door was opened by a nun. The woman showed her children, five-year-old Patricia and one-year-old Ernesto, to the nun and explained that she could not take care of them because their father had left her.

The nun tried to calm her down, to give her strength and to convince her not to leave her children. It seemed that these words had impact; the woman left with the intention to look for a family to support her.

Shortly afterwards, the nun heard knocks at the door again. When she opened the door, she found the two children sitting in the street, with a little bundle of clothes and some food. Patricia held her brother very tight and consoled him, without finding the consolation she needed.

The foster home

Since the woman did not show up again, corresponding legal investigations were done and the children were accommodated at 'Felicitas del Río'. Although Patricia and Ernesto missed their mother (they did not remember their father), they managed to adapt to life at the foster home.

Soon they noticed that from time to time some children were leaving; they moved to a place called "SOS Children's Village" where they got a family. Patricia imagined how beautiful it would be to have a family and she wished that she and her brother could have this good luck as well. Whenever other children left the foster home, she did not say a word but cried secretly.

Five months after the foster home had taken them in, the nun called Patricia and Ernesto and told them that a family was waiting for them; they were going to live at the SOS Children's Village. Patricia felt extremely happy and she prepared with huge enthusiasm for the day she would meet her little friends from the foster home again. But above all, she was looking forward to having a family!

The family

The day of Patricia's and Ernesto's arrival to SOS Children's Village Morelia was a party day. Patricia saw the slide, the gardens, the football field, and she got excited. Everything was so beautiful. A lovely young woman by the name of Lupita welcomed Patricia and Ernesto in her family. Their new house was very clean, but the children instantly felt the warmth of a home there.

Now that she has been living at the village for almost a year, Patricia still remembers her first day there very fondly. "I was totally overwhelmed by all these nice people and new things. At that moment, the games were what I liked the most," she recalls. In the meantime, she likes her SOS mother Lupita the most because she feels cared, protected and, upon all, loved by her.

Patricia's search for a family found a happy end at SOS Children's Village Morelia; the girl and her little brother are looking ahead towards a bright future.

SOS Children's Village Morelia is the newest of Mexico's eight SOS Children's Villages. It opened its doors to up to 126 children in 14 family houses in September 2006. The village was funded by "6 villages for 2006", the official charity campaign of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Morelia, situated about 300 km west of Mexico City, is the capital of the central Mexican federal state of Michoacán.

For privacy reasons, the names of the children have been changed.