|
Moderator:
Welcome to Viewpoint, everyone. Today our topic is emergency relief with our guest Heather Paul, Ph.D., from SOS Children's Villages. Thanks for joining us.
Heather Paul: Thank you so much for this opportunity. We are happy to be here taking your questions on how SOS has dealt with this years natural disasters.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
What type of emergency relief did you provide in the tsunami-hit areas of Indonesia, Thailand, and India?
Heather Paul: With a primary mission to take care of orphaned and abandoned children, SOS is there on the ground during natural disasters. As a permanent part of any community, the SOS village can be trusted to understand what the short-term and long-term needs of a community are going to be. If our focus is on children, their family’s welfare in the middle of terrible crises is also our focus. In the first weeks of the tsunami along with other NGOs, we were delivering food supplies, erecting tents, providing clean water, start-up grants, relief packages, clothing, school materials, cooking equipment, bicycles, etc. Now we are embarked on the largest long term effort ever undertaken by SOS to put lives back together again.
_______________________
San Diego, Calif.:
Have you or your organization actually visited any orphaned villages? Can you speak to what you encountered?
Heather Paul: Yes, in fact I recently spent a week visiting our SOS Bolivia Villages. In addition to raising orphaned and abandoned children, we are doing extensive community outreach: working with illiterate women, setting up daycare centers, and strengthening families through counseling, vocational training and small grants. Our 9 Bolivian Villages began in the 1960's and as you might know, Bolivia is a very poor country. They have suffered through earthquakes and political unrest. The poorest of children are getting wonderful care in the hands of SOS, and most importantly we are strengthening many more families to prevent child abandonment. The trip was incredibly inspiring.
_______________________
New York, N.Y.:
How do you work together with other NGOs during these times of crisis?
Heather Paul: Collaboration at a local level is essential given the dozens of major nonprofits that are there to help. SOS also works with its donor governments such as Austria and Norway who provided significant help in Pakistan at the beginning, as well as UNICEF or Save the Children who all have children as their first priority. Collaboration on the ground means sharing intelligence on the real needs, and serving as one more distribution channel for food or medical supplies, construction of tents for housing or hospitals and assisting children in their response to trauma. The fact that thousands of children did not die from disease or malnutrition is certainly one testament to expert cooperation of many NGOs.
_______________________
Silver Spring, MD:
What does it take to create a village? I'd like one in our community.
Heather Paul: Unfortunately, forecasts for the next decade indicate that there will be many millions more orphaned and abandoned children due to extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, and likely more natural disasters. SOS first establishes a strong relationship with a native government which gives the land for a future village. On the average, each village of 10-15 houses including supporting facilities costs approximately $1.5 - $2 million for initial construction. Additionally, the ongoing operating costs are approximately $200k/year. About 150 children live in such a village with their siblings until they are grown. The village is also an anchor for community outreach that touches many more thousands of children and families through education, training, and medical treatment. This money is donated by individuals, corporations, foundations and governments.
_______________________
Innsbruck, Austria:
Have you been involved in help for Pakistan too? If yes, what are your activities there?
Heather Paul: We are very involved in emergency relief in Pakistan. SOS Pakistan is working closely with the Pakistani government and has coordinated aid through Austria and Norway to provide needed supplies such as hundreds of tents, blankets, food, and medical supplies. SOS did suffer some destruction of its own. The epicenter of this powerful earthquake (7.6 on the Richter scale) was in the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir area where SOS had nearly finished constructing a Village in Muzaffarabad, near the center of the earthquake. Thankfully, children had not yet moved in when the earthquake struck. SOS is now rebuilding this Children’s Village elsewhere as well as three other new Villages to accommodate, sadly, hundreds of new orphans. As everyone knows, the winter weather threatens the lives of thousands of people and we are doing all we can to make sure as many families as possible can survive this winter.
_______________________
Washington, D.C.:
Can you tell me what I do to help?
Heather Paul: You can make a donation to SOS Children's Villages or sponsor one of our many orphans by visiting our website at www.sos-usa.org.
_______________________
Baltimore, Md.:
How many children live in a village? And, who takes care of them?
Heather Paul: Approximately 150 children can be accommodated in each 10-15 houses in each village. SOS parents receive extensive training before they become major caregivers for these children. One tenet of SOS is that we always keep siblings together. Each house generally has one SOS mother and several "aunties" and other role models who can be male or female. There are also married couples in some Villages who become SOS parents.
_______________________
Illinois:
During the holiday season, can we donate holiday gifts to the orphans of SOS villages? I realize this effort may be a little late. Thanks so much for all you do.
Heather Paul: It's never too late to help the orphans at SOS! Unfortunately we cannot accept holiday gifts, other than monetary donations since it is so important to treat each child equally. We leave it to the SOS mother to use donations for favorite holiday gifts for her children. We welcome any financial donation that can be earmarked for any country or village you like. Additionally, you can choose to sponsor a child - and this way your contribution can help the child all year long. Thanks for your question!
_______________________
Towson, Md.:
What are your ongoing plans to rebuild the devastated areas?
Heather Paul: SOS has major expertise in housing construction since we have been building villages for orphaned and abandoned children for over 55 years. All SOS Villages are created by local architects and workmen and adhere to local form and function. In the case of the Tsunami countries, we are replacing roughly 2,200 family houses for 11,500 people. This is an ongoing process, involving governmental decisions on where to rebuild as well as other infrastructure challenges. We also are helping children by replacing their parents’ livelihoods. SOS has provided funds for 343 fishing boats as well as thousands of other small grants.
We are also building new SOS Villages: two more in India, one in Sri Lanka and three in Indonesia that will house 770 children. The actual numbers of children orphaned by the tsunami are still unknown. The number for Indonesia alone is over 6,000. We are also building four SOS Social Centers—2 each in Sri Lanka and Indonesia. They serve as day care, preschools, medical and meeting facilities.
_______________________
Chevy Chase, Md.:
How long do children stay in the homes? What do you do when there are more children than space?
Heather Paul: Children and their siblings can stay in the SOS homes until they are independant. The focus is on creating a stable, loving family environment that they can come back to forever. This means that we provide education, training, and transitional help to adulthood - just like a real family. When there are more children than space, we can add new houses, if possible, and we have started to place children with an SOS mother in the outside community. Given the sad reality of orphaned and abandoned children in many developing countries, SOS is doing more and more community outreach to save families and protect more children.
_______________________
Columbus, Ohio:
How quickly can you mobilize a SOS village after a disaster?
Heather Paul: Because SOS Children's Villages have been in place for so many years, they are a trusted community service provider. In each disaster, an SOS Village goes to work immediately: first with food and supplies distribution, cooperation with other NGOs on the ground, building shelters, and most importantly planning for longterm reconstruction and rebuilding of families.
_______________________
Fairfax, Va.:
Does SOS have any programs that help out the mothers who are not SOS caregivers? Seems to me that if they can get some help, there would be fewer abandoned children.
Heather Paul: Yes, our SOS Villages are doing more and more "family strengthening". That means we are working with illiterate, destitute mothers who are finding it almost impossible to cope with raising their children and we are giving them stipends, training, counseling, education, and parenting skills - and an SOS infrastructure of caring people. We continue to see great success with this outreach model in Latin America and Africa especially.
_______________________
Bethesda, Md.:
Do you accept volunteers? What kinds of opportunities are available for volunteers?
Heather Paul: Though we do not have any formal volunteer program yet, we are just now creating ways in which people can give their time and skills to help SOS, as opposed to just a financial donation. We currently have many supporters in different cities who have organized their own volunteer efforts to raise money for SOS. If you are interested in volunteering, we encourage you to call our office at 202-347-7920 or email us at info@sos-usa.org.
_______________________
McLean, Va.:
Thanks for taking these questions today. What is being done to help the children specifically affected by these disasters?
Heather Paul: The overriding goal of SOS is to create a protective environment for children, where they can be raised wth their mental, emotional and physical health safeguarded. In case of a natural disaster, this means working with families who need help to keep their family units in tact, either through buying fishing boats for employment, rebuilding destroyed houses, and reconstructing schools. SOS also provides mental health services to children who have been traumatized.
_______________________
Washington, DC:
I read on your website that you have village mother and aunts, are there any male role models for the children that live in the SOS Villages?
Heather Paul: Traditionally, the mother has been considered the caregiver, however in our three US Villages, there is a strong focus on male role models who work in the village as well. SOS Villages have usually had male directors, who work with the SOS mothers to provide support to each house. We of course realize the need for strong male figures and we do everything we can to ensure their presence in the SOS Village.
_______________________
Old Bridge, N.J.:
How much of SOS resources are directed towards emergency relief versus the orphan care programs?
Heather Paul: So far, in Tsunami-affected countries we have aided 23,000 children and their families. In addition to our standard fundraising for our over 450 villages around the world, special fundraising campaigns have afforded SOS the resources it needs in the face of natural disasters. Generally, though, donors can choose where they want their donations directed, whether it be towards sponsoring a particular child or village, or one of our many special projects like rebuilding after the Tsunami, earthquake relief in Pakistan, or famine relief in Niger.
_______________________
Moderator:
Unfortunately, our hour is up. Thank you, Heather, for answering our questions today.
Heather Paul:
Thank you all for your interest. We hope that you have learned a bit more about the great work of the SOS Villages. Please visit our website at www.sos-usa.org for regular updates on all our work across the world.
_______________________
|
