The Village with a hundred stories

The SOS Village in Namibia is an amazing place. It provides over 100 orphaned or abandoned children with a home, a loving family and essential care. When you walk around the Village, you find a playground, a SOS Medical Centre, a SOS Kindergarten and a community outreach program for struggling families living outside the Village.

I would describe the Village as modest but very modern. It had warm running water, electricity, (shared) washing machines, and each home had a kitchen – all of the basic amenities. The home where I had the pleasure of living wasn’t filled with material possessions, but it did have a television which the children were allowed to watch when they came home from school.  My eight kids always looked forward to watching Don’t Mess with An Angel-- a Mexican telenovela dubbed into English. They also had one wall in their rooms that they would decorate with photographs and posters.

In each SOS home, there was a wall in the living room or kitchen decorated with a hand-made birthday calendar. The unique calendars featured a picture of each child and their birthdates in large writing, organized from January to December. I thought this was such a fun, creative idea that highlights every child in the home.    

During my time at the Village, it was impossible to ignore the strong sense of family and community that surrounded me and each of the children living there.