THERE exists an SOS Children’s Village at Rajpura, in fact it has been there for the last six years. The information hit me hard and took me back a full circle to my schooldays in Delhi when we were taken for a visit to one such SOS village near Delhi. The experience was one a 14-year-old could never forget. I was stunned to see what a little vision and enterprise could do for the lives of the orphaned and the destitute.

The selection of a suitable ‘mother’ for the SOS Village is crucial

The village at Rajpura, one of the 32 SOSChildren’s Villages in India, is run by a voluntary childcare organisation which provides a family and permanent home to orphaned and destitute children. Children are brought up here in an environment closest to that of a normal loving family. So instead of crowded dormitories and bare essentials to survive by, every child grows up with a mother and brothers and sisters of his own, experiencing the warmth and security of a home.

Sadly in an affluent state like ours, the village has been unable to rope in sufficient donors. For its annual expenditure of about Rs 40 lakh, only about 10 per cent is generated from the home state. The rest is given by the parent organisation. To establish a permanent base of donors and sponsors and make the village self-sustainable, the SOS village is launching the Bal Mitr Utsav from May 11 to 14. A large number of schoolchildren, members of government and social organisations, including the Rotary and Lions Club, will be visiting the village and interacting with the families.

Children in these villages grow up in a natural family-like set-up. As many as eight to 10 children are put in the care of a ‘mother’ and they all live together in a house given to them. The children, belonging to various age groups, grow up as brothers and sisters. The mothers are, at times, supported by co-workers. Every village comprises 14 to 20 such homes. The final objective of the village is to lay a strong foundation for an independent and secure life. The children are funded and supported by the organisation till they are able to earn their own living or get married.

Children up to the age of seven years are admitted in the village

A visit to the SOS village in Rajpura, the only such complex in Punjab, can leave a very strong imprint on your mind. This aesthetically designed modern complex, spread over seven acres, has 14 brick houses, a kindergarten, a community house and a youth house arranged in a circle, which encloses a beautiful garden and playground. Every home has a name of its own.

As you approach a house in the complex on a late Sunday afternoon, you see some children playing in the adjoining verandah. The main door stands open, you wipe your feet on a clean doormat and walk into the room.

The first thing you notice is the unique layout of the room. The drawing-cum-dining room has an open kitchen adjacent to it which has been simply yet tastefully designed and equipped with amenities required for a large household. Freshly washed stacks of school tiffins are lined up above the utensil rack. You turn at the sound of greetings and see a couple of children smiling at you. In walks the SOS mother of the house along with the smallest child clinging to her.

Without being told 18-year-old Gurjeet (name changed), the eldest of the 10 children, walks to the kitchen, reaches out for glasses and serves you water. The mother takes you around the house. Each of the two bedrooms for children has cupboards, two study tables and two double bunker single beds. The third bedroom for the mother has a double bed. There are two tiled bathrooms, two toilets and a backyard in the house.

The children are brought up in an environment closest to that of a normal loving family

The children’s age ranges from two and a half to 18 years and all but the youngest child go to nearby schools. Right from a very young age, the children — both boys and girls — are taught to learn and share all household chores, be it cleaning or cooking. Sunday is the day generally fixed for a more extensive cleaning of the house and, more importantly, for an outing. All children are named according to the religion they belong to. In cases where the religion is unknown, the child usually adopts the religion of the mother. While assigning houses to children, their compatibility with the mother and the other children is taken in account.

Pointing to a spirited four-year-old, the mother says, "She was found wrapped in a polythene bag in a dustbin behind a hospital. It’s difficult to imagine how could anyone throw away such an innocent baby." When you ask Gurjeet about her life before she came to stay in the village, which was established in 1996, the young girl calmly replies, "I remember that we used to stay in Muradabad, my mother was mentally ill and used to disappear for long periods of time before she would be brought back."

"Once when she, my sister and I were returning home, she just wandered away, leaving my sister and I stranded. In the process of finding her, I got separated from my sister and a policeman turned me over to an orphanage. Our father had already deserted us and both my mother and sister could not be found again. I was eventually shifted here in 1996. `Mummy' loves us all and I am happy here."

Gurjeet passed her matriculation with 58 per cent marks and is awaiting her plus two results. She intends pursuing a degree in law from Kurukshetra University. The mother explains that all mothers and children are given a fixed sum of pocket money every month apart from the Rs 300-350 per child for household expenses and an allowance every six months for clothing. All other expenses, including those incurred on education, are taken care of by the organisation.

According to the admission policy of the organisation, children up to the age of seven years are accepted here. They are recommended by the police, or anganwadi and social workers. Siblings are not separated and almost all children settle down comfortably after an initial adjustment period. The mothers are specially trained to help them settle in.

Clad in a simple kurta-pyjama, caretaker of the village Jasdev Singh is greeted warmly by every child he meets, and as you go around the complex , you cannot help noticing that the children are indeed a well behaved lot. Elaborating on the upbringing of the kids, Jasdev Singh says that all boys above the age of 14 are shifted from their homes to the youth house where their is a cook and a caretaker to look after them. In order to make the boys self-reliant and independent, they are assigned duties like assisting the cook and helping to clean up the place.

"Depending upon the aptitude and intelligence of the child, we send them to various schools in the country. We intend sending the boys to Sainik Schools. To gear them up for this, we put them up in this house so that they can get a feel of that kind of an environment," says the caretaker. The youth house has a common room, a television and facilities for indoor games and recreation. The children have fixed timings for studying and going for tuitions.

It is important to select the right ‘mother’ for an SOSvillage. The organisation places advertisements for the same in the local papers. The applicants have to be matriculate, in the age group between 25 and 35 years, should have no responsibility and should be familiar with the region. After the initial selection, candidates are sent to various villages for training and exposure. The villages send feedback about the mother’s suitability and aptitude and based on this the final selection is done.

Surprisingly it’s the middle class which is the organisation’s strongest supporter and not the upper class or corporate houses as expected. Jasdev Singh states that what they need is more donors and their are many schemes under which you can help a child. You can sponsor a child or be a village sponsor by contributing either Rs 500 per month or Rs 6000 per year. You can contribute to the educational fund by contributing Rs 1200 per year. You can become a friend of the village by donating Rs 600 per year or generally help by making any amount of contribution .

The SOS Children’s Villages of India is providing direct and indirect care to more than 2 lakh children in India. It is a member of the worldwide SOSfamily working in 131 countries with SOS-Kinderdorf International as the umbrella organisation. The first SOS Children’s Village was established in India in1964 at Greenfields, Delhi, after the visit of Hermann Gmeiner, the founder father of the SOSmovement, at the invitation of Pandit Nehru. Today there are 32 SOS Villages and 122 Allied projects like kindergartens, schools, social, medical and vocational training centres spread in the country.

As the SOS slogan goes ‘Many children need many friends', it’s time my friends that we made friends with the children in the village at Rajpura.