SOS mother with her little girl in Children's Village Sanankoroba,…
SOS Children's Villages Mali has been running family support since June 2005 in Mopti, set around the SOS Children's Village Socoura. This report follows a young parent, Zakaria, and tells of how SOS helped him and his three children. But before Zakaria's story, here is a little background on the situation in Mali:
- Lisa
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SOS mother with her little girl in Children's Village Sanankoroba, Mali.
SOS Children's Villages Mali has been running family support since June 2005 in Mopti, set around the SOS Children's Village Socoura. This report follows a young parent, Zakaria, and tells of how SOS helped him and his three children. But before Zakaria's story, here is a little background on the situation in Mali:
This district of Mopti was chosen taking into account the presence of the village and the many vulnerable families living in the area. Mopti is the poorest region in Mali; 65% of the population lives below the poverty line. The rate of schooling in the rural village of Socoura is 31% for boys and 27% for girls, lower than the national rate (58% for the boys and near 40% for the girls). The social and economic situation, extreme poverty and sickness are factors which contribute to increasing the vulnerability of children, and especially child abandonment. Most of the families live in one or two rooms without electricity; the well is the only source for water.
The goal of the programme is to help families to take care of children and avoid situations where child abandonment might be on the cards. Currently 150 children and 116 adults benefit from school grants and funding for agricultural equipment and livestock to build up small buisnesses as well as literacy courses for adults and training courses for women and young people. Health checks are carried out and in some cases, people will be given food.
Zakaria, 30, and his three children. "I am from the region of Mopti. I taught masonry here in Socoura. I was a mason before the programme and I laboured on a farm. I 'worked' but couldn't earn enough tp meet the needs of my family. I have three children: my second to youngest child attends the SOS nursery, my daughter, who suffers from a learning difficulty, stays at home with her mother and the youngest who is one-year-old."
"The family support gave me a cart, a donkey, two oxen and a plough. The equipment saved me! I'm not dependent on others to give me work anymore. I can offer them a useful service instead. I can go to the fields with my cart; I cut grass in the bush, I give a part to my animals and I sell the rest. I go to Sévaré, Socoura for the market. I also transport 'banco' - brick of raw ground, dried in the sun, used for buildings - and I use my cart for people."
Zakaria can cultivate fields in winter with the plough and both oxen which he has received. "Everybody waits for winter. It is soon to come, rains start in July." In the meantime, he drives the oxen to the fields, where herdsmen take care of them. This is how he avoids catering for their fodder, which is too expensive. He is going down to the plain. "It is rice in the plain. Here is millet. The district lends me a plot of land. I will cultivate rice. I shall keep a harvest part to feed my family and sell the rest."
Alpha Baba Traoré, responsible for the programme, told us about Zakaria: "He takes care of his family today. He manages to feed his family. We have a vision for the programme: we want to support the families to take care of their children in different areas (well-being, health, schooling, food and supplies)."
Zakaria is going to leave the programme in October, after one-and-a-half years, to give an opportunity to another person in need. But besides his financial autonomy and the capacity to generate income, we will make sure that the other part of the programme, namely sensitive aspects related to the rights of the child will be well-integrated.
The family support of Mopti sustains 19 young girls for vocational training in dressmaking. There is other family support Sanankoroba, in Bamako region, which started in January 2006 with 150 beneficiaries.
The programme's goal in Mali is to increase the number supported an additional 100 persons with each programme for the next year. A day nursery project is planned for the same year in Sanankoroba meant to support working women in need.
For privacy reasons, we have changed the name of the programme beneficiary.
- Mary
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The artist Herbert Wallner has asked some children attending the the nursery and school in Bakoteh to give him a hand to accomplish the world redord of the tallest painting, for the profit of SOS Children's Villages.
In The Gambia, one hundred children will soon be able to say they have contributed to establishing the world record for the tallest painting! I have been reading all about their incredible experience!
It's 10 o'clock and the 60-meter-long canvas is waiting to be 'invaded'. Indeed, this is quite an impressive canvas for the little ones who have never painted on something bigger than an A4 paper. Soon, the pupils from two classes from SOS nursery Bakoteh and two classes from the SOS School Bakoteh will take possession of the place and give it a colourful touch.
A couple of days ago, the little ones, aged six to nine, were briefed about their incredible painting experience. But looking at their faces today, one could see that none would have expected such a gigantic project! A bit speechless and impressed when they first saw the huge canvas, their expressions showed even more astonishement when the artist, Hebert Wallner, told them "and everything must be painted! I don't want to see the colour of the canvas anymore!"
A huge task indeed! All dressed for the circumstance, the little ones first shyly stepped on the canvas, bare-feet... But soon, the place was to become an amazing playground!
A first group gets its piece of canvas allocated. Everyone selects his or her painting spot and soon lets his or her imagination do the rest. From flowers to houses, little girls and boys, monsters, hands or even flip-flops...the canvas is soon spread with colours!
But the artist wants even more colours...and more wildness too! As the second group gets its portion of the 60 meter canvas to paint, children realise that to cover such a big area, their paintbrushes might not be enough. Soon, hands and feet are covered with paint (water paint, easily washable) and the real work starts! Very soon, a new 'species' of children appears: the 'red, green, or yellow feet and hands children'...a type that can easily be tracked, with all the little footsteps that now cover the canvas!
After a couple of hours, the job is done! The 60 meters are now fully covered with colours and drawings.
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