Living in a village

Daily life at the SOS Children's Village Sucre, Bolivia - Photo: SOS Archives With the security of a home, a caring SOS mother and a family of brothers and sisters, a new life begins - a family life which many have never experienced before. There is the routine of kindergarten and school, friends to play with, birthdays to celebrate, laughter and quarrels. "The children in the SOS Children's Village are actually real cool!" This is, at least, Rosita's opinion (10), who is going to tell you something about the life in an SOS Children's Village. "Hallo! I am Rosita, and I am ten years old. I am in my first year at the secondary school here in town. The house I live in is called "Cenicienta", just like the one in the fairy-tale. Sounds funny, doesn't it? All houses in the village have a name, but why I don't know. I have been in the SOS Children's Village for quite a long time, for four years or so. I really like my SOS family, and the SOS Children's Village is a cool place. But I am supposed to tell you what it is like. Quite normal, really. The small children stay with their SOS mothers all day long, the bigger ones go to the kindergarten in the village. There are also many children from outside the SOS village and the neighbourhood at the kindergarten because it is not only meant for SOS children, but for everybody. Children like me, the big ones, go to school. My best friend, Roxana, is in my class and lives with her family here in town. We see each other quite often. She either comes to see me in the village or I go to her place. There is a lot you can do in the SOS Children's Village, because there are always so many children around to play with. And the village director and his assistant as well as the educational staff are always "ready for some action", as they call it. We often go for a walk or work on the SOS Children's Village newspaper. That is really great, because that's what I want to do for a living later on, and I can already see what it is all about. For children with learning difficulties there is some kind of assisted learning in the afternoon, here in the village, with some of the educational experts. That is a good thing, because there is always somebody to ask or somebody to help you prepare for a test paper. Of course, you can also learn with your mother. It depends what you prefer. But very often, we just spend the afternoon together making some drawings. Or we dance - sometime we practise for the carnival. We have a dance group for carnival, and we invite many people from the town to watch our show! In the evening, we go home. Then we have dinner and then we play for a while or do something else, the things other people do in the evening like watching T.V., for example. And then, sooner or later it's time to brush our teeth and to go to bed. When I was little, my mother used to read me a bedtime story, but now I'm too big. I'm not a baby anymore. Now, it is the little ones, my younger brothers and sisters, who are having a bedtime story red to them. I like to live in the SOS Children's Village. There is always something going on, and the children in the village are real cool. I really like it.