Puja in progress at Children's Village Begu Sarai, India.
SOS Children's Village Begusarai opened on the 23rd June, 2008. It is situated besides the National High way 31 No in the state Bihar. The SOS campus consists of 14 family houses, youth house with workshop for youngsters. The village has a big mango and litchi fruit garden, a big play ground is also within the province. There are plans to develop a beautiful children park for small children.
- Lisa
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Puja in progress at Children's Village Begu Sarai, India.
Here is a short description of the opening of the SOS Children's Village in Begusarai, India. The village opened on the 23rd June, 2008. Aside from the physical layout of the village, the description also tells something how we bring up children in the traditions of their own culture. Here is the description:
Begusarai is situated besides the National High way 31 No in the state Bihar. The SOS campus consists of 14 family houses, youth house with workshop for youngsters. The village has a big mango and litchi fruit garden, a big play ground is also within the province. There are plans to develop a beautiful children park for small children.The housewarming ceremony was done on 23rd June with the traditional way of Bihar. The entire village was decorated by flowers and floral art, of Madhubani paintings of Bihar. On this occasion, Hawan-Puja (worship of the God) was done and a colorful cultural program was also organized for the day to mark as special day for all. Children performed various cultural traditions on the stage. The dignitaries of the city Begusarai attended the function and blessed all children.
To preserve the cultural heritage of the society Holi, Raksha Badhan, Shivratri, Janmastami, Dussehara, Durgapuja, IDD, Diwali and Chhat Puja were celebrated in the SOS family. Besides these the national days of India Republic Day, Independence Day, Children's Day, and Gandhi Jayanti were also observed with great zeal and enthusiasm. To enrich children culturally, they attend music, dance classes at village. As the village is newly inaugurated, the playground also gradually develops for play activities. Children enjoy playing football, volleyball and their favourite game is cricket.
The entire village is beautiful, with evergreen plants, flowers and trees. Children and mothers developed their Kitchen garden with various seasonal vegetables. A nursery school is also started for small kids. This facility will be equipped with modern facilities which will be reached to nearest community children also.
- Mary
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The wishing tree at Lake Sevan in eastern Armenia.
This is the story of how a little boy from SOS-Children's Village Kotaik, Armenia, became a hero for a day. "A Small Boy Became a Hero for the Americans" says the title of a newspaper publication, which tells about the 8-year-old SOS-boy who found a wallet with money and important documents when on a trip to the four-top mountain Aragats, which is the highest in Armenia.
The wallet owner was one of the employees of the American Embassy in Armenia. He was on Aragats in August together with two other employees and lost his wallet there. They looked for it for an hour but all in vain. They were sure that the wallet wouldn't be ever found since nobody would dare climb those dangerous places. To their great surprise, a month later there was a call to the Embassy informing them about a godsend. It sounded more unbelievable since the hero was only an 8-year-old boy from the SOS-Children's Village Kotaik! Soon he was invited there and rewarded with a special medallion and an American-Armenian-flag badge. It is worth mentioning that climbing mountains has been his hobby for already 6 years. Imagine, a two-year old boy climbing mountains! Love for alpinism is inculcated in him by his godfather who is a professional alpinist. Together they have climbed Aragats twice this year. At the interview with the Armenian and American journalists Aram was quite modest about his heroism saying that if he hadnt fallen down just on that place he wouldnt have seen the wallet. Astonishing story!
This year the SOS-Children's Village Kotaik became a home for 21 more children in need, who found warm families and loving mothers here. Thus, the total number of children has become 85. All new children are provided with psychological counselling to help them cope with their past life traumas as well as to easily fit in to the new secure environment.
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