KARACHI: Excited boys and girls in fancy dress, some in traditional wear from Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some in African jungle attire, complete with face paint, some more in white Taekwondo uniforms, last-minute rehearsals ... it was most certainly not business as usual at the SOS Children’s Village in Malir on Saturday.

It was the golden jubilee celebration of SOS Children’s Villages in Pakistan, which also completed four decades in Sindh. It was also the silver jubilee of the adjoining Hermann Gmeiner School Karachi, which opened in Malir some 25 years ago. And to make the momentous occasion more memorable, the president of SOS Villages International, Dr Dereje Wordofa, who was on a visit to Pakistan with his executive assistant Peter Safer, was also coming over to celebrate with the children.

For 50 years now the SOS Children’s Villages in Pakistan have been providing a home, a mother, good education and hope to orphaned children. Valuing life and taking nothing for granted the children leaving the Village after graduating have done very well in their lives. Many of them earned mention at the anniversary by the president-elect, SOS Pakistan, Shahid Hamid, during his address while praising their achievements. They have all kept links with the place where they grew up and learned. Some have also left the country and are doing exceptionally well abroad.

There was Masooma Abbas of SOS Village, Faisalabad, who after doing her BBA and MS in Finance, married another product of SOS Villages, a graduate in Computer Science. The couple with their two children are now happily settled in the United Kingdom.

Another alumnus from Karachi was Ghulam Fatima, who is now serving in the Elite Police Force. More stories of success included Sabir Hussain from SOS Village, Jamshoro, who works at a local university after doing his BBA; Abdullah Shah who joined the armed forces and is currently a proud lieutenant in the Pakistan Army who also recently earned the Chief of Army Staff Commendation Certificate; Hafizullah from SOS Village, Rawalpindi, who is an electrical engineer and Bakhtawar who is a director now at a private company.

Many senior mothers at the Villages along with senior teachers, including Veena Khan, Nadia Tabassum and Zahida Hashmi were also honoured on the occasion.

The students of SOS Children’s Villages of Karachi, Jamshoro and Khairpur entertained the guests, with happy performances, which even compelled Dr Dereje Wordofa, Mr Peter Safer, Mr Shahid Hamid and Chairman of SOS Sindh, Senator Javed Jabbar to also join them. A big cake in the SOS Children’s Village colours of blue and white was also cut on the occasion.

Earlier, in her address of welcome, secretary of SOS Sindh, Naureen Hamid, provided an overview of the Villages, their quality schools and technical training institutes in the province. She spoke about how the safe and nurturing environment of the Villages helps the children grow to their full potential and become self-reliant and thanked her team of volunteers for doing a fine job with the children.

Expressing his joy of meeting and interacting with the children of SOS Villages, including some alumni, Dr Dereje Wordofa congratulated the SOS management in Pakistan, particularly Sindh, for their good work in caring for the children and building their confidence.

“These five decades indicate the resilience, the compassion and love that so many of you have been giving tirelessly. And because of that so many children who were in despair became hopeful so much so that now they are contributing to society,” he said. “It is a tremendous achievement for not only them but also for you, the people who care about them,” he added.

Convener SOS Villages Karachi Naeema Aftab also spoke.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2025