We want to have a peaceful environment
Particularly war and violence frighten children in SOS Children's Villages. They dream of living in a peaceful world, free of violence, intimidation and crime. This peace is to have a positive effect on family life as well.
Show us your respect, protect us and let us have a say!
The children want more attention. They want to express their opinion and be taken seriously in order to be able to trust the adults. They want to be safe from mental and physical abuse and being allowed to have a say in decisions that directly affect them.
Let us help more needy people!
The children express their respect and esteem for the work of SOS Children's Villages. They are grateful that they can live in the SOS Children's Village and want to use this chance for a better life. They think that many more children should get this chance by building more houses, taking more preventive measures, supporting families financially etc.
Family is the key to a happy childhood
Many children wish to stay with their SOS family forever. They really fear to lose their SOS mother, for instance because she is going to retire. Some children would like to have an SOS father. When thinking of their future, the children find it important to have a family of their own and to be good parents.
We want to be accepted!
A great desire of the children is that their SOS Children's Village is better integrated in its neighbourhood. They want to be treated like all the other children and not be excluded because they are growing up in an SOS Children's Village.
We want to have more contact to our original families
To learn more about one's own roots is another concern of the children. They want to help their original families in order for them to have a better future as well.
We want less pressure
The children would like to have people respect their interests and decisions. The adults must understand that not every child can be good at school because he/she may have other abilities. Some suffer from excessive demands and fear to fail.
Help us live outside the children's Village and stay in contact with us!
"Like birds we fly from our nests but we keep coming back to our SOS families." Many children fear the time after the SOS Children's Village, fear emotional separation, independence. They wish to keep in touch with their SOS brothers and sisters and their SOS mother.
Appropriate training and a good job are important for a satisfied life
The children have clear ideas about their education and their future profession. They know that this is the fundament for a better future. They wish the SOS co-workers to help them chose the right job.
We want to contribute to harmony through mutual respect
Harmony, mutual respect, love, confidence, support, justice and consideration are features the children consider important for interpersonal relations. They are also aware of their own duties and responsibility. Friendship is something valuable - friends one can rely on are extremely important.
All these messages of the children are based on a process of "listening" in the SOS facilities worldwide in order to improve and develop further the quality of childcare. SOS Children's Villages collected the wishes, fears and hopes of more than 600 children aged 18 to 26 in Asian, African, South-American and European countries. The results will be included in the main fields of future SOS work.