Child sponsorship letter from Belen, Paraguay

An example child sponsorship report from Belen, Paraguay:

Dear Sponsor,

It is very pleasant to greet you and share with you a little bit of the life at the SOS Children’s Village Belen. It is our sincere intention to give a general idea of the work carried out here and the opportunities the children and adolescents have thanks to your constant support. We always say that the base to our labor is solidarity, being able to count with and trust people who understand the social meaning and transmit the spirit of SOS Children’s Villages Paraguay. You as well as others are part of a movement of change and improvement in order to alleviate the unfortunate effects millions of children suffer around the world, and to prevent future social problems.

The SOS Children’s Village Belén was the last SOS village founded in Paraguay. It opened its doors to 4 families and 22 children in the year 2002. Even though it is the youngest SOS village, it is also one of the most excited with and committed to the 40th SOS Children’s Villages Paraguay anniversary celebrations. Youths under the youth-care co-worker’s direction, families, assistants to family development, as well as the director and other co-workers are collaborating these weeks to organize a nice and memorable celebration.

As you may already know, Belén is a town located 20km away from the city of Concepción, which is the first department of Paraguay. Today, the SOS village located in Belén is formed by 12 family houses with 94 children and adolescents. Ten youths are under the Semi-Independent Living care and four other youths have become independent adults already. Among these last there are youths starting university, finishing it, receiving other kind of occupational training or even working. Small children go to school within the community. On the other hand, the older children and adolescents attend a school located 4km away from the SOS village. They get there riding their bikes, some of them walk with their friends and others take the bus. This year the school activities started with great enthusiasm on the children’s part because the all received school supplies thanks to an educational project carried out by the Government. The little ones were particular happy and it was a nice motivation. In general, we can say that most children and adolescent present a good academic performance so far this year.

Besides the celebrations for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, January 6, the three Wise men’s day, was very important to everyone. Youths with the help of their SOS mothers, assistants to family development and aunts organized a nice outing for the little ones to a place called Santo Rey. Some children went to visit their biological relatives and other relatives came to see the children at the village. The contact maintained with biological families is for most a positive aspect. Children feel happy to be able to see their relatives now and then since they care for them. The SOS mothers and other co-workers monitor and evaluate this situation making sure it is always in the best interest of the children.

Also during the first semester of this year, many activities have taken place in order to foster and promote children’s skills. For instance, there were workshops where they learned to produce cleaning products such as detergents, shampoo and other things; there was a hairdressing course as well, dance and guitar lessons among many others. The aunts and SOS mother intervened by saving money to buy more guitars for the children. After accomplishing their objective, they began to organize activities to raise funds to buy dance costumes for the several festivals and presentations the children have. Thanks to the financial support of SOS friends in Belén and other communities, the cultural aspect is promoted and encouraged.

In March 5, new children were welcomed to the SOS families. They are all little children of 1 to 5 years old. They are going through an adjustment process. They give joy and liveliness to their families. Their new brothers and sisters feel proud and happy to have new younger siblings and want to help by taking care of them and being protective. As time goes by, the children start bonding and feeling more confident in their new environment, their new home. They learn to share with many brothers and sisters, and to be able to rely on their SOS mother, who offers protection, shelter and love.

The celebration of Mother’s Day was a big party at the SOS village as it is already usual. The children and adolescents were happy to give their mothers gifts and many kisses. They made their own gifts at School. The mothers were very emotional as usual too and loved the nice gesture and recognition, especially by the older kids, for their effort and love.

Another important situation we have observed during these first 6 months has to do with the effort each child and adolescent put to help their SOS mother at home with the daily chores. No matter how old, we have seen the children during the weekends cleaning the patio with their mothers, working on the vegetable gardens, taking care of the plants, learning to cook on special occasions, and getting more involved in general. For example, during the holy week (Easter), the children had a great time cooking the traditional chipa paraguaya with their SOS mothers. This activity requires a lot of time, but it turned out to be very positive. It allowed the children to experience teamwork, laugh with their jokes and spend quality time with their mother learning from her knowledge and traditional customs, which are not often seen anymore.

Dear friend, perhaps the anecdotes and experiences of the SOS Children’s Village Belén are not extraordinary if you look at them as daily common activities. However, they are quite admirable when considering how many obstacles our children and adolescents have overcome and continue overcoming. We feel honestly glad to be able to tell you that thanks to your solidarity and involvement in the lives of these children we can work to provide them with a good future and strengthen their communities.

Best regards from Paraguay,