“They Don’t Have Anyone But You!”

“Not from nine to five. Not from dusk to dawn. [The SOS Mothers] work 24 hours a day,” Ana Blazevic reports.

Mira Bozicevic, an SOS Auntie at SOS Croatia, explains the special will power it takes to become an SOS Mother and caretaker. “Everyone wonders why and how,” she says. “You have to want to be able to do this.”

“Being an SOS Mother really means being a mother,” SOS Mother Silvana Vidos says. “We’re here when they go to school, come back from school, when they are sad and happy. We go through the phases of growing up with them.”

SOS Aunties like Mira train for at least three months before becoming official SOS Mothers. They take extensive courses that cover a wide array of topics including environmental and intercultural education, child development, housekeeping and nutrition, and legal aspects of the placement of children.

Raising a child is often difficult but these SOS Mothers say the reward in the end is all worth it. Women like Bozicevic have to make big sacrifices to become fully committed caretakers. “My grandchildren miss me. They call me a lot,” Bozicevic says. “But they’re full of understanding. My older grandson is 11-years-old and he tells me, ‘Go Nana. Go to the children. They don’t have anyone but you!'"

An SOS Mother holds a little girl at SOS Children's Villages - Lekenik, in Croatia

The SOS Children’s Villages in Lekenik, Croatia

Halfway between Zagreb and Sisak lays the picturesque village of Lekenik, a rural community with about 2,000 inhabitants. SOS Children's Village Lekenik is located on the outskirts of the town, next to a primary and a secondary school.

The SOS Village in Lekenik was the first of its kind to be opened in Croatia in 1993. Altogether the Village is comprised of fifteen family houses for up to 98 children and their SOS Mothers, an administrative area, a workshop, a Community Center, houses for the Village Director and the SOS Aunties, and a playground. The daily care of the children rests in the capable hands of 15 SOS Mothers, who can count on the help of SOS Aunties and other staff. A Social Center offers different activities for the children from the SOS Village as well as for children from the neighborhood.

These children also have the possibility to attend the SOS Kindergarten, which can hold up to 60 children. The SOS Youth Facilities in Zagreb and Velika Gorica can take in up to 38 youngsters themselves.

All SOS Mothers Share the Same Love and Passion

The large and close-knit SOS families at the SOS Children's Village Lekenik share the same responsibilities and joys as any other family in the world. It’s no secret that, because of SOS Mothers and Aunties who dedicate their lives to taking care of orphaned and abandoned children, there are 76,000 children who benefit from SOS Children’s Villages in over 500 Villages worldwide.

Even though SOS has given so much to so many children, there are still an estimated 133 million children in the world who have lost one or both biological parents and need the love and support of an SOS Mother like Silvana and Mira. You can do your part by becoming a Global Village Builder today. For as little as $12 a month, you can make a dream of a home and a loving family come true for children in need.

Want to learn more about SOS? Sign up for our eNewsletter.