New Year - New Home!

Accepting a new brother or sister into the family is always an exciting event in the villages.

The SOS mothers and other co-workers try and find out as much as they can about the new children and their background. This helps them to truly provide the right sort of welcome and long-term love and care that each child needs - after all, every child has an individual personality and comes from a unique background.

The Social Welfare Department is closely involved in placing children with SOS Children's Villages, to make sure that the placement really is in the best interests of the child and that the whole procedure is transparent and legal.

Often, the SOS mothers are able to spend a little time with the 'new' children before they actually move into the village. The SOS mothers also spend a lot of time with their existing "SOS family" smoothing the way for the new arrivals.

Surprisingly, the atmosphere in the families when the SOS mother first broaches the subject of a new brother or sister is almost always one of excitement and happiness, rather than the bewilderment, antipathy or rejection that one might expect.

Perhaps it is because the existing SOS children want to share the loving, stable family atmosphere that they have come to appreciate with children who come from traumatised situations which may well be familiar to the existing family. Perhaps it is because of the painstaking work and love that all SOS mothers put in to make sure that their "SOS family" is ready to welcome new children into their midst whenever the need arises.

Maybe it is because the more exuberant children love being part of the rough and tumble that goes with a big happy family; or maybe, for the quieter ones, it is a chance to 'hide away' a little amongst the crowd? Whatever the case, these pictures from Tete and Maputo illustrate a range of emotions that are typical.