Guwahati: Love and dignity along with solace and hope have replaced abandonment and destitution in an attempt to eliminate fear and despair in the lives of needy orphans in the SOS village at Hojai Nagaon district near Guwahati capital of the north eastern state of Assam.

Village director A.U Choudhury told a visiting PTI correspondent recently that the spirit of SOS was reflected in the village’s endeavors to create a near normal family atmosphere for the unfortunate lonely and hapless child by providing a home a mother and siblings in an attempt to inculcate a sense of belonging and security.

Set up in 1989 the Hojai SOS village is a home to 61 children whose achievements educationally culturally and socially were very encouraging Choudhury said. A band of dedicated mothers and co-workers have taken care 0 prepare the children in the pursuit of academic careers to undergo sports training and have given vocational guidance in order 10 make them self-reliant and to prepare them for integration into mainstream society.

The director sad that the unique village where children of different faiths lived together also inculcated a sense of social responsibility by involving them in flood relief operations and adult education schemes. Since most of the boys had agrarian backgrounds Choudhury said that farming and industrial training production center would be started where local needy youngsters would also be provided with assistance.

The youngest member of the village is five-year old Pankaj Sarma who had been sent to another SOS: village by the Nagaland government in 1985 when he was only 14 days old His mother had died five days after his birth and his father had been killed in an accident before he was born. Another village member a young woman named Tilu was recently made very happy when the village authorities arranged and solemnized her wedding which was held in the presence of her SOS mothers and friends. State minister Hiteswar Saikia recently visited the village as a mark of affection for the children.

The SOS has grown as a nationwide movement over the past 27 years. It now covers thousands of needy children in 26 villages throughout the country.

Article extracted from this publication >> February 7, 1992