November 23, 2010: What’s the Thanksgiving holiday about for Americans? Family, a warm home, and bountiful food, symbolizing the autumn harvest and our good fortune in being able to enjoy it.
Most children brought to 500 SOS Children’s Villages around the world know nothing about caring parents, a stable and secure home, or a table piled with food. That’s why once they enter the SOS community, which provides these things and more, every day is a day to give thanks.
Take Robert, born in Uganda in 2006 to a teenage mother abducted by a renegade band of rebels known to kidnap children and use them as child soldiers and sex slaves.
Kidnapped in 2002, Robert’s mother was forced to become a rebel's wife and soldier. His father was already dead when his mother died in a battle in southern Sudan, her three-month-old baby strapped to her back.
Baby Robert, Fated to Live
Robert was found by a soldier from the Ugandan People's Defence Force who was moved by the sight of this baby, weighing only six pounds and dressed in a cloth. The soldier took him to the northern town of Gulu to a group called the Gulu Support for Children Organisation, or GUSCO. The group helps war-affected children, especially those who have been abducted or born in captivity. GUSCO looked after Robert for several months while they searched for relatives, but those they found could not afford to look after him. In 2008 they contacted the SOS Children's Village in Gulu.
“He was not in good condition when he arrived,” said Robert's SOS mother, Ruth. “He was covered in a rash and cried so much.” Ruth thinks his condition was the result of not being washed very often. Mentally he was equally fragile. “He always wanted to be alone,” she explained, “and he tried to hit people who came too close.”
Robert’s new SOS brothers and sisters helped to bathe him. They washed his clothes, dressed him, fed him, and of course played with him.
Eager to Write
Ruth noticed that Robert is a quick learner. He speaks the local language of Acholi but since starting at the SOS kindergarten three months ago, he has picked up English and greets his new Mom every morning with a cheerful “Hello.”
Robert is also very active. His skin has cleared up, he is no longer in pain, and he loves to run. But writing may also become his forte, as he is rarely seen without a stick, which he uses to write in the soil. One day out of the blue he told Ruth, “I want to write.” So she gave him an exercise book and pen. But habits die hard. He still writes on the ground with his stick.
SOS gives Robert the love that was pre-empted by his own mother’s short, tragic life. It provides him with an SOS family and the security that he and his young mother were once tragically denied.
This Thanksgiving, give a child like Robert a reason to be thankful. Signup to receive SOS eNewsletters to learn more about SOS Children's Villages or make a donation to support SOS around the world.
