Filipinos are grateful people. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s gesture of awarding a Presidential Citation to the SOS Children’s Villages Philippines in recognition of its contribution in uplifting the lives of Filipino youth, is a tangible manifestation of this trait.
President Arroyo cited the SOS Community for transforming and changing the lives of the 964 SOS integrated and independent children making them productive citizens and active members of society. Stories of hope which springs from the SOS Community’s unconditional love and inspiration, abounds.
She said that the SOS community has faithfully and ceaselessly pursuing its goals in the last 40 years that benefited Filipino children in various villages and supporting youth facilities located in Calbayog, Cebu., Davao, Iloilo, Lipa, Manila and Tacloban.
The President handed the Presidential Citation for SOS, to no less than the President of the Kinderdolf International Mr. Helmut Kutin, for effectively carrying out its vision and mission of providing love and care to more Filipino children in need.
Mr. Kutin, who came to the Philippines to attend the SOS Children’s Villages Philippines’ 40th anniversary, told the President that it is their mission to help orphaned, abandoned children worldwide, including the Philippines.
He was accompanied by Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla, chairman of SOS Children’s Villages Philippines, and its national board of directors and Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
SOS Children’s Village is a place for orphaned, abandoned and neglected children in extreme difficult circumstances. Competent and responsible SOS mothers and co-workers provide unconditional love and inspiration, support and encouragement for these children to make them feel they belong.
While several of the children were turned over to the SOS Children’s Villages by their impoverished families, many of them have been left at the doorsteps of the villages, without a name or a family. Many times, the children are given names and baptized right in the SOS Children’s Villages.
The children are placed in a home setting and given all his or her needs, food, shelter, clothing, education. recreation, but most specially love and affection as only a true family could give.
SOS also offers livelihood skills and vocational training programs, counseling and day care centers, educational programs and scholarships to less privileged families living near the children’s villages.
The SOS Children’s Village originated in Austria in 1949. It was founded by Professor Dr. Hermann Gmeiner who was born on June 23, 1919 in Vorarlberg, Austria into a farmer's family. His mother died when he was very young and his 16-year-old sister Elsa took the mother's place for her younger brothers and sisters. As destiny would have it, she became the role model for Hermann Gmeiner's idea of an ideal SOS mother.
While Dr. Gmeiner began his studies in medicine with the goal of becoming a pediatrician, at the same time, he was also engaged in youth welfare work and was exposed to the plight of the youth and children in a war-ravaged world. He was particularly moved by the condition of destitute children, and realized that providing them with just the basic needs was not enough.
He felt only a proper home with a caring mother and company of siblings could ensure the vital physical, mental and emotional growth of a child. The SOS concept was thus born with the simple idea of providing abandoned and orphaned children, a valuable substitute for their lost families.
SOS counterpart in the Philippines was established on Feb. 29, 1964 with the first SOS Children’s Village in Lipa City, Batangas. To date, there are seven SOS Children’s Villages and 17 attached facilities being managed in the Philippines.
Mr. Helmut Kutin grew up in an SOS Children's Village himself. Helmut Kutin was born in Bolzano (Italy) in 1941. Following a family tragedy he was admitted to the world's first SOS Children's Village in Imst (Austria) in 1953. Later he moved to the SOS Youth House in Innsbruck. and later on played a substantial role in organising the work of SOS Children's Villages in Asia.
One of Hermann Gmeiner's closest co-workers, he was elected to succeed him as President of SOS-Kinderdorf International in 1985.
President Arroyo cited the SOS Community for transforming and changing the lives of the 964 SOS integrated and independent children making them productive citizens and active members of society. Stories of hope which springs from the SOS Community’s unconditional love and inspiration, abounds.
She said that the SOS community has faithfully and ceaselessly pursuing its goals in the last 40 years that benefited Filipino children in various villages and supporting youth facilities located in Calbayog, Cebu., Davao, Iloilo, Lipa, Manila and Tacloban.
The President handed the Presidential Citation for SOS, to no less than the President of the Kinderdolf International Mr. Helmut Kutin, for effectively carrying out its vision and mission of providing love and care to more Filipino children in need.
Mr. Kutin, who came to the Philippines to attend the SOS Children’s Villages Philippines’ 40th anniversary, told the President that it is their mission to help orphaned, abandoned children worldwide, including the Philippines.
He was accompanied by Davao Archbishop Fernando Capalla, chairman of SOS Children’s Villages Philippines, and its national board of directors and Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral.
SOS Children’s Village is a place for orphaned, abandoned and neglected children in extreme difficult circumstances. Competent and responsible SOS mothers and co-workers provide unconditional love and inspiration, support and encouragement for these children to make them feel they belong.
While several of the children were turned over to the SOS Children’s Villages by their impoverished families, many of them have been left at the doorsteps of the villages, without a name or a family. Many times, the children are given names and baptized right in the SOS Children’s Villages.
The children are placed in a home setting and given all his or her needs, food, shelter, clothing, education. recreation, but most specially love and affection as only a true family could give.
SOS also offers livelihood skills and vocational training programs, counseling and day care centers, educational programs and scholarships to less privileged families living near the children’s villages.
The SOS Children’s Village originated in Austria in 1949. It was founded by Professor Dr. Hermann Gmeiner who was born on June 23, 1919 in Vorarlberg, Austria into a farmer's family. His mother died when he was very young and his 16-year-old sister Elsa took the mother's place for her younger brothers and sisters. As destiny would have it, she became the role model for Hermann Gmeiner's idea of an ideal SOS mother.
While Dr. Gmeiner began his studies in medicine with the goal of becoming a pediatrician, at the same time, he was also engaged in youth welfare work and was exposed to the plight of the youth and children in a war-ravaged world. He was particularly moved by the condition of destitute children, and realized that providing them with just the basic needs was not enough.
He felt only a proper home with a caring mother and company of siblings could ensure the vital physical, mental and emotional growth of a child. The SOS concept was thus born with the simple idea of providing abandoned and orphaned children, a valuable substitute for their lost families.
SOS counterpart in the Philippines was established on Feb. 29, 1964 with the first SOS Children’s Village in Lipa City, Batangas. To date, there are seven SOS Children’s Villages and 17 attached facilities being managed in the Philippines.
Mr. Helmut Kutin grew up in an SOS Children's Village himself. Helmut Kutin was born in Bolzano (Italy) in 1941. Following a family tragedy he was admitted to the world's first SOS Children's Village in Imst (Austria) in 1953. Later he moved to the SOS Youth House in Innsbruck. and later on played a substantial role in organising the work of SOS Children's Villages in Asia.
One of Hermann Gmeiner's closest co-workers, he was elected to succeed him as President of SOS-Kinderdorf International in 1985.
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