By Karen Brandt
Recalling her childhood in Austria during the Second World War, there’s one day that will forever be etched in Maria Virjee’s memory.
“We were bombed out,” the 63-year-old says with a German accent. “We went into the air raid shelter with our apartment building intact and when we came up three hours later, there was nothing left of it.”
Virjee’s father died earlier that year and so her mother took her, her brother and her sister to a friend’s home until the war ended. They left with only a suitcase filled with family documents and a small sum of money.
“We had to start from scratch,” Virjee says matter-of-factly, her grey-blue eyes gazing from behind large glasses.
Virjee considers herself fortunate for not having been orphaned, as so many thousands of children in Europe were during the war.
Today, as board president for SOS Children’s Villages Canada, she has been reconnected to her past. The first village in the international SOS network was built in Austria in 1949 to house orphans.
“I grew up with the concept of SOS,” she says. “It’s a part of the national heritage there.”
It was a young Austrian named Hermann Gmeiner who created the SOS idea, raising money to build homes grouped together as a community where orphaned children could live as part of a family. Up to eight children lived in each home, growing up as brothers and sisters under the care of a woman who was employed as a caregiver.
Today, there are almost 400 SOS villages in more than 130 countries, housing about 35,000 children worldwide. Many villages offer schools and medical centres that are also open to people in the surrounding community. SOS also provides emergency aid to countries ravaged by war and natural disaster. The organization was recently nominated by the Austrian government for the Nobel Peace Prize.
SOS Canada was founded in Ottawa in 1969 and was completely run by volunteers until it opened its national office in 1991. The charitable organization depends largely on funding from individual donors, who can choose to support projects in Canada or abroad.
The first and only village in Canada was built in Nova Scotia in 1983. It cares for foster children with behavioural problems who can’t be accommodated in the child welfare system.
“Many of these children have lived in several different homes,” Virjee says. “They need long-term stability and people who care for them so they can find out, ‘Yes, I’m worth something. I’m a human being too. Somebody loves me.’ ”
The Child Welfare League of Canada estimates the number of children living in the child welfare system nationally is more than 75,000, up 25 per cent from three years ago.
Virjee says the child welfare system in Canada is facing a critical situation, with a shortage of stable foster homes and social workers stretched to the point of exhaustion.
“There’s only so much stress that someone can take on the job,” she says.
Virjee says SOS Canada can help alleviate the pressure on the child welfare system, adding that plans to build villages in British Columbia and Quebec are already underway.
Virjee has volunteered with SOS Canada since its humble beginning, seven years after arriving in Canada with her husband, who she met while working at the Indian Embassy in Vienna.
Virjee first contacted the organization to find out how she and her husband could sponsor children in India, but she soon began helping with fundraising efforts by typing letters to donors during lunch breaks from her full-time job as an interpreter for the federal government.
SOS Canada’s founding director, Joseph Messner, a former executive director of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa-Carleton, says he was impressed with Virjee’s dedication.
“I felt she was a very competent and knowledgeable person who was deeply committed to the SOS philosophy,” he says.
Virjee has sponsored three generations of children and looks forward to receiving the letters and photographs they send to her every Christmas. “It’s nice to see them grow up,” she says.
Virjee and her husband had a chance to meet the first boy and girl they supported when they visited the village near New Delhi in 1981.
“They were a little shy,” she recalls. “But when you see how they interact with their brothers and sisters and mother there, it confirms that something worthwhile is going on.”
Virjee says by serving on the SOS Canada board, she’s realized how much effort goes into planning special fundraising events such as gala dinners and golf tournaments.
“My mind and my eyes glazed over,” she says. “I couldn’t believe the work. If you want to do it well, it’s extremely time consuming.”
Virjee says without a dedicated group of volunteers who are willing to work over-time, events would not go as smoothly as they do.
“I’m continually amazed there are so many people willing to give so much of their time on a volunteer basis,” she says.
Virjee says SOS Canada refuses to use the “hard sell” approach of calling people at home and asking for money, preferring instead to mail letters and talk to as many people as possible at special events.
She adds that being a volunteer can be a 24-hour job.
“You always have to have your ears pricked and your eyes open to possible fundraising opportunities,” she says. “If you see an opportunity, you get in there and speak about it.”
Erika Fuerst, who first met Virjee in the 1970s but became a close friend in 1991, says Virjee works tirelessly to help disadvantaged people in society.
“Maria is a very strong defender of the underdog,” she says. “She’ll fight strenuously and righteously for anyone who is down and out.”
Every year, Fuerst and Virjee set up SOS Christmas card displays in shopping centres and government buildings. Fuerst says even when people walk by without stopping to talk, Virjee remains enthusiastic.
“She doesn’t get discouraged at all,” Fuerst says.
Virjee says she finds it gratifying to tell people about SOS and plans to continue volunteering with the organization after her term as board president ends in two years.
“The bottom-line of SOS Canada is the children,” she says. “It may not be many in numbers, but it makes a 100 per cent difference for every child.”