March 19, 2010: Michael Y. Sam was three years old when his uncle, already caring for many children of his own, delivered the abandoned boy and his one-year-old sister to the SOS Children's Village in Tema, Ghana. Michael's father had left the family and his mother was unable to care for them.
34 years later, from his secure perch in the United States, Michael is giving back to the place he still calls home. Together with other SOS alumni, he is fundraising to create a library and computer lab for the current generation of SOS-Tema children, whom he considers his brothers and sisters.
When SOS Children's Villages opened its first family homes in Tema in 1974, the community comprised 20 children living in five houses. Today 130 children live in 15 family homes. All the households are run by loving, professionally trained SOS mothers who, like Michael's SOS mom, feel very proud when the children they raise succeed as Michael has.
Making Good, Giving Back
And Michael is a true success story. Today he is an information technology consultant based in Maryland, with a rewarding job and an MBA from the University of Maryland. Every year he travels home to Tema to visit his SOS mother, who greets him with hugs, tears, and his favorite dish -- fufu, made of plantain and cassava. The other SOS mothers admire her for the son she raised. The SOS children look up to him, and he mentors all of them in different ways. One boy, in particular, reminds him of himself in the old days.
"I have a special relationship with one of my younger brothers who lives in house No. 10, the one I grew up in," he says. The boy prefers playing with friends to studying, and his grades are slipping."
"At his age I was known for the same thing. Fortunately, I had an older brother who took a special interest in my school work." With his older brother's mentoring, Michael's grades improved and he was able to enroll in the SOS Hermann Gmeiner International College in Tema. The university targets gifted youth and is considered the best in Ghana. SOS students who attend the school earn an international baccalaureate and upon graduation receive a scholarship from SOS-Innsbruck to use at any university in the world. Michael chose the University of Maryland.
Grateful for the love and guidance he received at SOS-Tema, Michael spends time mentoring his young SOS brother living in house No.10. They communicate through Facebook and email, and Michael has the SOS social worker send him the boy's grades and make sure he is behaving well. "I'm told that my younger brother is now more focused on school than he was before," says Michael, happy with the boy's progress.
Why a Library and Computer Lab?
Having succeeded in the United States, in 2000 Michael Sam helped set up a network of SOS alumni living in the United States and elsewhere to contribute to SOS Children's Village-Tema. Michael wants his SOS brothers and sisters to have the same opportunities he did to succeed in the world despite a difficult start in life. Education is key to their futures, he believes. Of particular interest to the SOS alumni group is strengthening the educational prospects of SOS children in Tema through a new library and computer lab.
The library-computer lab will give SOS children a quiet, secure place to go after school and on the weekends to expand their connections to the larger world. "Getting a job in Ghana is very hard," says Michael. "Exposing kids at a young age to computers and all the knowledge they bring will allow them to raise their academic level and compete for jobs."
Michael and his SOS alumni network need $10,000 to create the library-computer lab in a currently rundown building in SOS-Tema that will otherwise be torn down. Through the alumni network's Leul Memorial Fund -- named after an SOS brother raised in Ethiopia who passed away after coming to America -- the group has already pledged $4,000. Michael now seeks donations for the remaining $6,000. Funds will be used to purchase books, computers, and furniture, to renovate the crumbling one-room structure, and to staff the new center.
Help Michael and his fellow SOS alumni bring hope and opportunity to Ghana's children in SOS-Tema. Please donate to The Library and Computer Lab Project today.
