Case studies: former SOS child Lydia, from Ennerdale, South Africa

A former SOS child, Lydia, doesn't just juggle motherhood and a successful career - she makes both succeed!

Lydia Lives "SOS Love"

Lydia, now 24, grew up in the SOS Children's Village Ennerdale after she and six siblings were orphaned. Only four of the seven siblings, however, went to SOS Children's Villages. Lydia was four at the time. She attended the SOS Nursery School and later a local school in the Ennerdale community. "SOS is the only home I ever knew. My values were established here and everything that is part of me now was based on how I grew up in SOS."

Lydia feels she had many opportunities while growing up in an SOS Children's Village, which included going to France as an exchange student. "I got everything that I needed. SOS (Children's Villages) supplied me with food, clothes, and my general and basic needs. When I look back I realise I had more opportunities than the average child in the community but when I was in the situation I couldn't see it," said Lydia. "I always felt different from the other children in the community because it wasn't the same as the way they lived. I had a mother that was placed there for me in a house and I had brothers and sisters that were given to me but I still felt different." A comment by the fundraiser of the village at that time made her feel better. He said: "We shouldn't think that we're different it's just that we're special."

When Lydia was 16 years old her first SOS mother, who had already left employment at the village a few years before, died of cancer. "I was sad when she died. I called her mum because she was there for me from a very early age. We didn't have family to visit over the school holidays so she would take us with her on holiday to her own family. It was sad when she died but I was grown up enough to realise that she was gone and remembered that she had been there for us. Now I just want to make her proud."

An independant future in South Africa

When Lydia was 16 years old she moved into the youth house. "I had a lot of mixed feelings when I moved into the youth house. I was now responsible for whatever I did. What was nice was that my best friend in the village, Michelle, moved with me and we shared a room. I had a lot of support from Michelle and the youth leader. It was nice to have the freedom to leave the village and mingle with the community and other youth." At the youth house Lydia was taught how to be independent, manage finances, buy her own food and still keep some money from her allowance for pocket money. "It was an experience but it wasn't just holy matrimony or chocolate and sweets, there were some problems as well," quipped Lydia of her time in the youth house. "I mean there was a lot of fighting between us youth but somehow it made a person stronger." Lydia's experience in the youth house made integrating into society a little bit easier after leaving. "It wasn't just this big world that I didn't know. But what was very difficult for me was to find a job."

Lydia's first job came through connections with an oversees sponsor. She was given the opportunity to work as a Marketing Researcher for the PMR Business Journal. A few years later she was referred to Warstreet Marketing, a PR and marketing company, where she was interviewed. She joined the company as a Marketing Assistant where she manages the office, co-ordinates events, assists with advertising material, and compiles press releases. "The working world is very challenging, there are a lot of opportunities, and I feel the sky is the limit."

Lydia has a daughter called Keasha whom she spends a lot of her free time with, "She is very cute and I love her." Unlike most young single mothers Lydia has considered Keasha's future should anything happen to her, "If something happened to me I would let SOS (Children's Villages) look after her because I came out OK but it wouldn't be my first choice. Obviously I'd like to always be there for her but if not then I have arranged that a close friend take care of her." Lydia also has a twelve-year-old adopted daughter. "Glenrose is not born out of my womb but out of my heart." Glenrose is Lydia's oldest sister's daughter who abandoned her. "My older sister did not grow up in SOS (Children's Villages) so she doesn't understand or have the same values I do. I did not want to see Glenrose without a mother," said Lydia.

Lydia has also written a short book called "My Life, My Love and Myself", which is about SOS Children's Villages and how she grew up and the people who made footprints in her life. It will be published soon. In the near future Lydia has ambitions to have a higher position at the company, get her Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) degree, and continue to care for her daughters.

SOS Children has been working in South Africa since and the children's village at Ennerdale gives a family for life to more than 150 children.

You can support children like Lydia by sponsoring a child in South Africa.