Interview with the Director of SOS Children's Village Bakoteh, The Gambia

Here, we interview Mrs Haddy Touray, the Director of SOS Children's Village Bakoteh in The Gambia, a tiny West-African country.

Haddy, could you please quickly brief us on the history of SOS Children's Village Bakoteh?

SOS Children’s Village, Bakoteh was established in 1982 to care for orphaned, abandoned and destitute children and was officially inaugurated on 5 March 1983 by the then president of The Gambia, and the founder of SOS Children’s Villages, Hermann Gmeiner. The Village began with six family houses with 46 children and also a Nursery. Thanks to the expansion in 1996, the Village now has ten family houses with 102 children, which includes eight babies catered for in our transit home. We have ten mothers, seven aunties and four nurses who care for these children. I also live in the Village with my family. There is also a youth home not far from here where 15 youths live under the supervision of Mr Gibba the Youth Supervisor and Omar, a former SOS child and now youth leader.

What's a regular day like in SOS Children's Village Bakoteh?

During school days, we start the day at six in the morning. At this time mothers will be busy preparing the children for school and I go round the village to check on each family and make sure everything is OK. By 7:15 I’m normally finished with my tour and by 7:45 all children have left for school. While the children are in school, the mothers tidy up their houses and surroundings, wash clothes and cook lunch with the help of the aunties (family helpers). The children normally come back from school at about two in the afternoon. They then have their lunch and have time to rest and play before their study sessions. Dinner is eaten around 8:30, after which the older children are allowed to watch the news and pack their school bags for the next day. This is a typical week day in the Village. And for the Village administration staff, no two days are the same!

And what about the weekend?

During the weekend children have much more time to play and do what they want! And the Village is of course much nosier than any weekday!

Can you tell us a bit more about the Baby Transit Home?

In 2004, the transit home for abandoned babies was opened in the Village when baby 'dumping' was very rampant in The Gambia. It was established as a result of the request from the Department of Social Welfare for temporal placement of babies in emergency situations. During this time the Department of Social Welfare and the police would investigate and try to reunite the baby with their family. If this is not possible, they would request for an official registration of the baby into the SOS Children’s Village. Before the transit home existed, the babies were kept in the country’s main hospital where they received very minimal care.

And how many babies have gone through the transit home since it started?

Since its inception, the transit home for babies has offered temporal care services to 69 vulnerable babies. In 2008 the Village received 14 babies for temporary placement. Six of these babies were withdrawn for foster care placement and last September four babies were integrated into the SOS Children’s Village family houses. As of today we have eight babies in the transit home, aged four to eight months. Four nurse caretakers work on rotational shifts to ensure they receive all the love and care they deserve.

And according to you, what else is so special about the Village?

The children’s education is very important to us. This is why we have embarked on a special education programme for our SOS mothers and aunties where they can improve their literacy skills and learn new skills like bread making, soap making, tie and dye and batik as well as various creative arts and crafts that they can do and share with the children at home.