Postcard from Tiffany Schauer, November 2008
During my recent visit to Jamaica, where I attended the Pineapple Ball at the Ritz-Carlton Golf & Spa Resort, I had the opportunity to visit one of the orphanages supported by the Jamaica Committee. A couple of minutes from the hotel is an orphanage that is part of the SOS Children’s Village (www.sos-childrensvillages.org) program. The umbrella organization, SOS Children’s Villages, is an independent, non-governmental international development organization which has been working to meet the needs and protect the interests and rights of children since 1949. It was founded by Hermann Gmeiner in Imst, Austria. It has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize 14 times and received the 2002 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize.
There are over 450 SOS Children’s Villages worldwide that form the core of SOS Children’s Villages’ work. The organization, however, also runs a whole range of programs and facilities in support of socially disadvantaged and impoverished families to help them lead a better life in the long-term. SOS also supports about a million other children in community programs such as family strengthening, running 192 schools across the developing world, running medical centers and programs for street children, child soldiers and victims of disaster.
This SOS village that I visited houses about seventy kids with parents either dead, in jail, or missing. The youngest child is about 2 years old with the oldest around 14 years old. The children are divided among about eight houses with one house mother per home living with them. The houses are clean and orderly. The groups emulate a family dynamic I have not seen in other institutionalized living circumstances. This model seems natural and healthy with various ages and boy/girl split among the groups. The children also attend the local school providing the kids with an opportunity to integrate outside the facility. The kids at this village were delightful. The Village Director Floyd V. Hitchman told me that for some of them, this is the only home they have ever known. Floyd is the tireless saint of patience providing leadership and administration for the entire orphanage. The kids adore him with a healthy dose of respect evidenced when he authoritatively reminded them that shoes are required when playing outside.
When I asked him what the greatest needs were for the homes he gave me a list. The kids need: stoves; refrigerator; computers-lab; vehicles to transport our children to and from school; seven office chairs; school materials, like hard-cover note books, bags, etc.; educational software to be used on the computers; hand-held educational games; table top games; refurbishing of tennis court into a multi-purpose court; workshop tools, like power drills, screw drivers; electric plane; sheets, including twin, full and queen sizes; shower curtains; cooking pots (large and medium size); chest of drawers; dressers; a microwave oven; adjustable shower heads; shoe laces; school shoes and socks; calculators; first-aid supplies; sports equipment, like tennis rackets and balls, badminton, table tennis, bats and balls; funds for our various programs, including educational, sports, information technology, music; playground equipment for our village and kindergarten school; teachers desks and chairs; large picture and story books; educational audio and visual aids (CD, movies, VHS); computers.
To help, you can contact Floyd V. Hitchman at fhitchman@yahoo.co.uk or Floyd V. Hitchman, Village Director, SOS Children’s Village, Barrett Town, St. James. Jamaica. www.sos-jamaica.org www.sos-jamaica.org.
