Child sponsorship update from Beau Bassin, Mauritius

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Beau Bassin, Mauritius from Winter 2008.

Dear sponsor(s) and friend(s) of SOS Children’s Village Beau Bassin,

It gives us great pleasure to share with you some of the experiences and events that happened in our village this year.

At present, the end-of-year examinations are over and the children have started their long summer holidays which will last till early January 2009. The children are already in a different mood and are looking forward to a busy and exciting holiday. Be assured that the children are all fine and they are enjoying a good health.

There are actually 91 children in our village, 43 boys and 48 girls. We have two girls and two boys who are 2 years old and a baby boy who is 1 year old. These children joined the village quite recently and they are adapting very quickly to their new houses. In August this year, six adolescent boys were promoted to the Youth Facility located in SOS Children’s Village Bambous. They love their new way of life and most of them are faring well with their new responsibilities, except for one or two.

Also, we are proud to let you know that we now have over 100 Ex-SOS children (those who have left the village since its existence and who have been integrated back into the community). Although it is quite a huge task to track them and give those in need necessary support, we are happy to see that many of them can manage on their own and are quite autonomous.

As you may be aware, Mauritius is a multi-religious and multi-cultural country. In October, we thus celebrated Divali festival at the village. It’s an Indian festival from Hindu faith. On that day people decorate their houses with lights - traditional earthenware lamps with oil or electric ones. It is a festival that shows the victory of light over darkness, of good over evil and enlightenment over confusion. So this year, on the eve of the festival, the Youth girls and the other elder children spent the whole evening and part of the night preparing cakes and sweets for the festival on the following day, which is a public holiday. They then invited neighbours and friends of SOS for morning tea and shared the delicious cakes. It was indeed a great sharing moment. The guests also enjoyed the Hindu songs and dances performed by the children and congratulated them. It was a good occasion to show the harmony that exists in the village regarding religion.

Growing up at Beau Bassin, Mauritius

Over the years, we have observed that many of our children lack a point of reference and we believe that they could benefit a lot through spirituality. Thus, not only for that but also to promote religious harmony, each month, we invite catholic Priests, Muslim Imams and Indian Pundits to come together and share with our children the values and teachings of their own religion. This allows children to sit together and listen to the talks. Even the priests say that they get the opportunity to learn from each other’s religion through this event. In the individual family houses, the mothers send their children to mosque, church or temple depending on their religion of origin.

We have a serious concern in Mauritius, which is also reaching the village and that is the earlier sexual emancipation of girls and boys. Thus, as a prevention measure, external qualified resource persons are regularly invited for talks in the village to educate and raise the awareness of our pre-youths on the matter and on related issues. In this respect SOS Children’s Village Beau Bassin together with other NGOs organised a residential workshop on the matter and youths from other NGOs were invited to participate.

The response was very good and the participants enjoyed and learnt a lot from the various workshops organised. However, a one off event is not enough; sustained talks and education must be followed.

We are now busy preparing for a much awaited moment scheduled for end of November, which is our annual camp. During three days the whole village will move to a recreational centre on the beach in the north of the island, precisely at ‘Anse la Raie’. This is a good break for adults and kids to leave the village and enjoy the sea.

After that it will be the preparation for Christmas and new year’s celebration leading to much effervescence in the village.

Dear sponsor, thank you for making all the above possible and for having helped us to keep our children happy through your sponsorship.

The children, staff and board members seize this opportunity to wish you.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2009.

Yours sincerely,

Rajen Jugnarain, Village Manager & Amédée Dabeecharun, National Director