“Today, nobody beats or pushes me around for food”
Only ten years old, Beltine’s parents and only surviving grandmother died, leaving her without food and at a point, no shelter. However, she found love and a home in an SOS family in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In the following interview, Beltine talks about her life in an SOS family.
Q: How is your life today in an SOS family?
A: I’m very happy. Today, nobody beats or pushes me around for food. I have enough to eat, I can boast of a room of my own; a bed of my own; my own toys and a house to call my own. And above all, I’m attending school!
Q: How is your relationship with your SOS mother?
A: Wow! I have the most wonderful mother in the world. She is kind, loving and very caring. My mummy and I are the best of friends you can find anywhere. We relate to each other as if we are equals. We cook, we sing and we walk together down the beach each weekend. Guess what! I believe so much in her that like “equals” we share our small secrets together.
Q: How do you relate with your SOS brothers and sisters?
A: You know something? I always wonder what my life would have looked like without SOS. I count myself lucky to have such wonderful brothers and sisters here in SOS. Out there I was almost alone, but now I’m not. I have brothers and sisters who appreciate and respect me. We share our fun together, we help each other and most importantly, we stand in for each other. With them, I’m not alone any more.
Q: Tell us about your school life?
A: I’m having a very wonderful school life. I learn new things every day in school. I meet new people in school every day and I learn a lot from them. SOS provides everything to make my school life comfortable; books, uniform, excellent tuition, you name them. My teachers are also very wonderful and hardworking people. Together, they make my school life worth having.
Q: Which subject do you like best and why?
A: My favourite subject is mathematics. And you may wonder why. Most of my friends in class do not like mathematics. They say it is difficult. But I’m good at it and like it because of one big secret which I will share with you. When I grow, I would like to be trained as an accountant and you know without mathematics, I’ll hardly realise this dream.
Q: Why would you like to become an accountant?
A: Good question. Accountants are very smart people. Besides, they are highly intelligent. I’m told they provide loans to people to establish their own businesses so as to reduce poverty and create jobs for young people. That’s exactly what I would like to do when I grow up.
Q: We are slowly recovering from the war against the Ebola epidemic in the country. How has it affected you and how do you cope with the sit-home period?
A: To me, the less we talk about Ebola, the better. I feel sick each day I hear on the radio that many people are dying of Ebola in our poor little country. Even the very few people who survived it have been stigmatized and rejected by their own communities. I feel so bad when I learn that children of my age are rejected and turned out into the streets by their relatives. It would have been me. God knows! How lucky I am to be so secured and cared for by SOS. With the shutdown of schools and the restriction of our movements because of the EVD outbreak, I sought comfort in reading, watching movies, and listening to the radio. I’m however particularly happy that all of us are safe including my friends both in the family and in school.
Q: Who is your role model?
A: I admire my Village Director, Mrs. Leila Labor very much. She is, I’m told, one of the very few women who work as village directors across Africa. She is a very strong personality with a heart for children. She is such a passionate person that she is always ready to listen to children. She constantly addresses our concerns as they are reported to her. She is a mother in every sense of that word.
