A new family member, a new beginning…
When the police brought a three-year-old girl to the SOS Children’s Village in Lusaka, Zambia, 14 years ago, they had little information about who she was. She had been found with her mother, who was mentally ill and unable to care for herself or her child. The girl’s name was Christine, and her father was not in the picture. That was all the police knew. But this marked the beginning of her journey to family reunification.
Christine bonded with the woman who became her SOS caregiver and grew up in the house she shared with the other children in the village. Many of the other children visited relatives on weekends, but Christine had no one to visit.
Several years later, a man appeared, introducing himself as Christine’s father. He had left Christine and her mother partly to find work in another country. To Christine, he was just a stranger she had no connection to, and he soon left again.
Nevertheless, this was a turning point. Now SOS Children’s Villages could finally piece together the rest of her family story.
“Never in doubt”
“It was an emotional moment to meet Christine again. I hadn’t seen her since she was a three-month-old baby. We didn’t know what had happened to her,” says Mayase Zulu, Christine’s aunt by marriage.
It turned out that Christine’s mother had passed away. And even though her father wasn’t ready to build a life with her, she had an aunt and uncle who had both the space in their home and the love in their hearts for her.
In a large tin house outside Lusaka, Aunt Mayase and her husband live with seven children and several grandchildren. They were overjoyed when they learned that Christine had been found and was alive. For Christine, this meant that for the first time, she could visit relatives outside SOS Children’s Villages.
“At first, she was very reserved and shy, but she opened up over time,” says Mayase.
“Several other family members have come to visit to get to know her, and she has made many friends in the neighbourhood. We are very happy to have gained a new family member.”
A gradual transition
After the first meeting with her aunt and family, Christine wanted to go back. First for a few weekends here and there, then she wanted to stay for longer periods during school holidays. Eventually, both Aunt Mayase and Christine were asked the big question: would they consider Christine moving in full time?
“We never had any doubts. School fees were our only concern, and SOS Children’s Villages helped us with that,” says Mayase.
Must be given the opportunity
An increasing number of children from the villages are following Christine’s example – moving in with biological families. It’s not uncommon that children living in the village ended up there in the first place due to poverty. They may still have parents or other close relatives who are willing to take on the caregiving role, if just given some help and support.
SOS Children’s Villages works to ensure that children grow up in their own families whenever possible. At the same time, UN guidelines for alternative care state that children in institutions must be given the opportunity to return to their original families if it’s in the best interest of the child. This is called reintegration.
In Zambia, 320 out of 543 children and young people in various children’s villages have moved back to relatives in recent years.
“There is extensive collaboration between SOS Children’s Villages, the families themselves, and local authorities to make this happen. Nothing happens overnight, and we take our time with reintegration,” says Mulenga, a social worker at SOS Children’s Villages in Lusaka.
Mulenga finds that for the majority of children, like Christine, there’s a good life outside SOS Children’s Villages. Usually, reintegrated children move after a school term ends to make the transition as smooth as possible.
For Christine, once the decision had been made for her to move in permanently with her aunt and uncle, she kept asking if it was time yet. She was so excited and felt the wait until the next school holiday was too long.
“Christine felt safe with her aunt and uncle. At the same time, she visits SOS Children’s Villages after attending church on Sundays. She still has a close bond with her SOS caregiver,” Chibwe concludes.