Sometimes life is writing sadder stories than a
novelist could invent. This story of a little girl in
"She can say 'Mum' and 'Dad' now!"
Adama did not have a very good start in her life. Left
by her father before she was born and abandoned by her mother at a very early
age, Adama, odyssey-like, ended up staying with various relatives until she
found a new home at SOS Children's Village Socoura in 2004. Her difficult early
childhood has had a devastating impact on her development, but Adama and the
village community are taking great pains to improve the situation.
Adama's problems
probably started when her father, a worker in a sugar factory, left his wife to
seek adventures while she was pregnant with Adama. The girl saw the light of
day in September 1997 in the city of
A childhood spent at funerals
After her mother
had abandoned her, Adama was first accommodated by members of her extended
family. Then, her aunt on her father's side took Adama with her to take care of
her. This aunt died five months later (in 2001). Adama's next caregiver was her
paternal grandmother, but she died, too (in 2003).
Once again, Adama
stayed with her extended family, until another aunt agreed to take care of her.
This aunt, however, was thrown out of the house with the child by her husband
who was accusing Adama of being an 'evil child' (according to traditional
African beliefs). Faced with the threat of divorce, the lady requested help
from the Centre of Family Placement, where Adama arrived in November 2003. Soon after, six-year-old Adama was admitted to SOS Children'
Village Socoura near the town of
Obvious signs of neglect
Being shifted
around between various relatives with different extents of motivation to attend
to her has left clear traces in Adama's development. The girl has a considerable growth retardation; she is now nine years old
but looks as if she was five.
But her problems
reach far beyond that. When Adama arrived at the SOS Children's Village, she
used to cower down and remain in that position almost all the time. Her SOS
mother Brigitte recalls that "she was not able to do anything; her arms
were just like rags." And she did not speak a word.
Brigitte - who had
been eager to take Adama under her wing from the very first moment on - and the
other village staff had a lot of work ahead of them, and a lot of loving care
as well as patience and understanding was demanded from the whole village
community.
Catering for basic needs
"Brigitte has
always accepted her and she is doing a really good job to help Adama,"
states Ms Tapo Kadiatou, social co-worker of the
village. The SOS mother adds, "At first, I had to provide her with toilet
training, which is quite a difficult job with nine other children in the house.
Then we moved on to dressing oneself. I used to pull
clothes over her head when I dressed her, and she tried to finish on her own.
Now she can dress herself, she can even put on her shoes."
Another main
concern of the village staff was - and still is - Adama's capability to speak. "The
medical examination was fine - her vocal cords are not damaged. Here, in Mopti,
we don't have speech therapists and psychologists," says Brigitte. So the
village co-workers do their best to stimulate Adama to speak.
In addition to
that, SOS Children's Villages offers her the best speech and development
training available in Mopti. "She has appointments with educators at the
'AMALDEM' (Malian association for abating mental disabilities) Centre of Re-Education
three times a week", says Tapo.
Very slowly, Adama
left her shell she had withdrawn to from the outside world. First, she proved
that she understands spoken language. "She reacts when I call her and when
we tell her something, she acts accordingly. She understands what we are
saying," Brigitte points out happily.
Then she started
to interact with her SOS mother and her brothers and sisters, using gestures to
express herself. Naturally, this attempted communication
was/is not always successful. The next big step for Adama was to attend
kindergarten where she accustomed herself very quickly.
"She is now
integrated, she plays with her peers, but she still misses speech skills very
strongly. She becomes angry and irritated when people don't understand
her", reports social worker Tapo. "It's so sad to see her trying to
speak! She would love to sing songs in kindergarten or the songs she is listening
to when we are watching TV! She always utters sounds of deep sorrow when she
hears other children sing," Brigitte adds.
Nevertheless, the
SOS mother is convinced that Adama's life has improved considerably during the
last two years: "She is enjoying
herself today. She loves other children. She loves going to kindergarten - she
prefers it to going to the AMALDEM centre. She has her own plans for the
future."
Brigitte is still
focussed very much on the child who needs her the most: "My only wish and
hope is that Adama will, one day, talk like the others, so that she can live a
normal life in society. We - the children and I - keep on trying to teach her
how to speak. We don't give up; we always continue to stimulate her."
Recently, Adama started delivering the most wonderful reward for their efforts:
"She can say 'Mum' and 'Dad' now! And she tries to pronounce the names of
her sisters and brothers!"
For privacy reasons, we have
changed the girl's name