2009 Nobel Peace Prize for SOS Kinderdorf?

Faced with the ordering two coffees from Cafe Nero, some order two cappuccinos, some order "due cappuccini".
Whether such people are knowledgeable or pretentious is in the ear of the listener and so it is with SOS Children / SOS Children's Villages which to "cognoscenti" who order cappuccini will always be "SOS Kinderdorf" International.

Whether we call ourselves SOS Children or SOS Kinderdorf what is clear is that October 9th is fast approaching and with it the excitement of the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize. We have been nominated again of course; the Austrian federal government nominated us again on 27 January 2009 “The Norwegian Nobel Committee invited us to submit proposals,” reported the Foreign Minister. “For many decades the work done by SOS Kinderdorf has been impressive and touching." No doubt a government nominating a charity for a Nobel Peace Prize makes us feel good, but we make it our fifteenth nomination and it would be very nice if just this once... especially exactly sixty years after we started on our rather special mission to orphans.

For more information about our work use the menu to the left or visit our microsites on child sponsorship, SOS medical centres, SOS Schools and strengthening families.

Why SOS deserves a Nobel Peace Prize

What is it that makes SOS Children always the bridesmaid, never the bride? My theory is because what we do is so obviously right that, even on a breath-taking scale, it is slightly too dull and unimaginative. Who could argue that what children who have lost their family and home need is a loving mother, a home and a family? There is no contraversy in such an obvious model and because there is no contraversy there is no brilliance.

And I agree that there is no brilliance in the obvious model for family based care developed over sixty years. No brilliance but enormously hard work by thousands of SOS mothers giving love to children from very disturbed backgrounds. Enormously hard work on the part of a huge movement for children which provides a home for 70,000 and helps a million more in the community. No brilliance but a continuous outpouring of love, and a continuous spirit of co-operation and unity which allows a vast movement of people to push together for what we all know is obviously right.

Sometimes, though, even something dull can become wonderful. Two decades ago I used to fly regularly over the Sahara desert which was "just" sand but awe-inspiring. Seventy thousand children across 124 countries all knowing the ultimate love of a mother for life thanks to SOS fills me with awe now. No single person could have done it but in a strange way a single person did. "It is easy to do great things when many people help" was one of our founder's favourite sayings. Perhaps "great need not be brilliant" should have been another.