As SOS Ghana marks jubilee, recalling role of founder Mercy Adebi Busia

Recently SOS Children’s Villages Ghana has been in the news because they are celebrating their Golden Jubilee. Ahead of the anniversary day, the commemoration started with a grand launch on March 1, graced by the presence of the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, patron of the association.

SOS Children’s Villages Ghana, is a “social development organisation”, committed to offering vulnerable children a refuge different from the standard children’s homes, aimed at nurturing them in a caring family environment. There are SOS Villages in Tema, Asiakwa, Kumasi and Tamale; with the head office in Accra.

The anniversary theme, announced by SOS National Director Alexander M. Kekula when the anniversary logo was unveiled by the First Lady is “SOS Children’s Villages, celebrating 50 years of transforming lives in Ghana’.

As they’re commemorating this historic milestone, I believe what is equally worth acknowledging is the singular role of the person who in 1974 introduced in Ghana the novel concept of a children’s home with a difference: Mercy Adebi Busia, founder of SOS Ghana Villages.

Perhaps her name is not a familiar one because, unfortunately, for many years Mrs Busia’s status as the founder was unjustifiably disputed. It took more than two decades of campaigning before she got the recognition she deserved.

And in my capacity as someone who investigated the prolonged controversy and helped unravel the truth in Mrs Busia’s favour, I find it opportune to tell the SOS Villages Ghana story, at this time when the seed she sacrificed to sow has borne such awesome fruit.

For the background, as the SOS website explains:

“SOS Children’s Villages is the world’s largest organisation focused on ensuring that children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it, grow up with care, relationships and support they need to become their strongest selves.

“SOS Children’s Villages has been supporting children and young people without parental care, or at risk of losing it, in Ghana since 1974.

“In the post-World War II era when Europe was rebuilding both its physical and social infrastructure, (Mr) Hermann Gmeiner (and five others) recognized a problem: thousands of children had lost their families and the infrastructure of the time presented them with the prospect of an institutional childhood in large-scale orphanages.

“Together, these six individuals decided to make a difference and in 1949, founded the Societas Socialis (‘a social club’) – SOS – in Innsbruck, Austria. A year later, the name was changed to SOS Children’s Villages…”

In the late 1980s, at the fervent request of Mrs Busia, I took up the assignment of assisting in her long campaign to be acknowledged as the one who introduced the concept, and founded the SOS Children’s Villages in Ghana, and not her colleague and family friend, Alice Appea.

The wrong impression had been created over the years, owing to an unfortunate set of circumstances, that the founder of SOS-Ghana was Mrs Appea. But actually, it was Mrs Busia who in 1968 had invited Mrs Appea to join Mrs Busia, her husband and others to form in Ghana a branch of the SOS International Children’s Association.

Mrs Busia explained that Mrs Appea had been both a colleague and a family friend and they had been on good terms, even after Mrs Busia had been shunted aside and Mrs Appea had taken over. She acknowledged the hard work Mrs Appea had put in, but pointed out that “the plain truth is that the one who builds on another one’s foundation is never the founder.”

Indeed, when I interviewed Mrs Appea on July 31, 1990, she admitted that Mrs Busia was the founder of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana.

The saga can be said to reflect the sometimes very ugly face of Ghanaian politics. Although Mrs Busia herself had little interest in politics, political developments in the country and in her family grievously affected her career, also generating the long struggle for her to be given her due credit.

A former teacher and social worker, she was the wife of Kofi Boaten Busia, younger brother of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, later to become Prime Minister of the Third Republic. Mr Boaten Busia was one of those who suffered the infamous political detentions of that period.

The story began in 1950 when Mrs Busia resigned from the teaching profession and went to the United Kingdom to train in Childcare at the Princess Alice College, Sutton Coldfield, in Birmingham. It is believed that she was the first person to acquire that qualification in Ghana.

In 1967/68 Mrs Busia went to Norway on a Norwegian Agency for International Development scholarship to study Pre-School Education and Administration. It was there that she stumbled upon the path to achieving her dream: how to organise a children’s home to replicate as much as possible normal family life, different from the conventional orphanages format.

“The structure of an SOS home is a self-contained unit and is as close as possible to a normal home in all respects. Every house has a living area, kitchen, separate bedrooms for girls and boys, and a room for the Mother.”

By chance, through a colleague, she got to know about the SOS International Children’s Village in Vienna, Austria, and promptly decided to go there and study their system. She began correspondence with the SOS headquarters and started saving her per diem allowance for her ticket to Austria.

A committed Christian, Mrs Busia told me that she saw the hand of God in the founding of SOS-Ghana and she cited as an example an incredible coincidence that she experienced while in transit to Vienna. “At London airport, God did something wonderful for me. While waiting for my flight to Vienna, I noticed a white man seated nearby and something told me to go and say hello to him. I hesitated because I thought this white stranger might snob me.”

However, the urge grew stronger so the normally shy lady man mustered up courage and went over to say hello to the surprised man. To her amazement, not only did the man respond warmly, they entered into conversation and she asked him where he was going. When he responded that he was headed for Vienna, she told him that she, too, was going to Vienna, to the SOS headquarters.

Before she could continue, this total stranger exclaimed, to her astonishment: “You must be Mrs Busia!” He introduced himself as the man she had been corresponding with, Dr Hansheinz Reinprecht, SOS Secretary-General who was rushing back from a trip to keep the appointment with her!

After an attachment in Vienna, it was agreed that on her return to Ghana Mrs Busia should establish an SOS Children’s Village in Ghana.

On her return home, she continued to correspond with Dr Reinprecht and started a branch of the Association in Ghana. “My husband helped me to talk to people about the SOS idea and convince them to assist. People here didn’t know anything about SOS at that time.”

The founding members in 1969/70 she listed, included the following, who also constituted the Board of Directors: Mr. J W Quarshie (President), Mrs Marjories Fibbean, Alhaji Musa Baba, Mr. E D A Asante (secretary), Mrs. Alice Appea (national organiser), Mr. S D Ofori, Mr. B K Busia, Mr. S D Sappor, Dr Aaron Ofori, Mr. M N Obuobusa, Mr. Paddy Animpong and Mrs. Mercy Busia (treasurer).

However, in 1974, tragedy struck the family when Mrs Busia’s only son suddenly died in the UK. Devastated by this trauma, she went into a period of mourning. “It was during that time that Mrs Appea set aside the original members and replaced us with people not known to me and the other founding members,” she told me.

When she started hearing and seeing constant references in the local media that Mrs Appea, (popularly known as ‘Grandma Alice’), was the founder of SOS-Ghana, “I felt the need to have that wrong impression corrected.” Unfortunately, she said, her discussions with both Mrs Appea and a petition to the then National Co-Ordinator of SOS-Ghana, Dr Enchill Asare, for the correction to be done, bore no fruit.

However, interestingly, when Dr Asare found out that Mrs Busia had all the files and documents about the founding of the Association in Ghana, he borrowed the whole set to make photocopies. Dr Asare confessed to this writer in 1991, that without the records from Mrs Busia, the management had little information on their files about the early history of the Association.

Special mention should be made of the crucial support given by the then PNDC Secretary (Minister) for Mobilization and Social Welfare, Mr D.S. Boateng. When I went to see him with a petition to solicit his assistance in getting justice for Mrs Busia, he immediately set up a committee to investigate her claim. The committee’s findings confirmed in December, 1991, that Mrs Busia was indeed the founder of SOS Ghana.

Nevertheless, again, no correction was done. Matters were at a standstill until late 2001, when a family friend, Ambassador Kojo Amoo-Gottfried, contacted the new SOS Ghana Board Chairman, Nick Opoku, about the controversy. Following Mr Opoku’s own investigations, in a letter to Mrs Busia, he stated:

“I would like to take this opportunity to express to you the association’s recognition of the immense contribution you made in initiating the idea of the SOS Children’s Village in Ghana.

“I wish to assure you that the management is very much eager to resolve this issue and are determined to see to it that you are given the recognition you deserve.

“Once again, accept our heartfelt appreciation for the immense work done for SOS-Ghana and for your contribution in helping to bring comfort to underprivileged children.”

Typically, modest and charitable, Mrs Busia said after the vindication: “Though many others deserve credit for their contributions to SOS Ghana, the original idea and the establishment of SOS in Ghana came about through my humble efforts and God’s Grace.

“I was only an instrument of the Lord; I never wanted anything more than the truth to be known about how SOS came to Ghana.”

To their credit, after Mrs Busia’s claim was confirmed, the management went all out to make amends. Among other measures, they built and named after her a multi-purpose centre at the SOS Village, Tema. The ‘Mercy Adebi Busia Hall’ was inaugurated on June 23, 2005 – a fitting day, because June 23 is the day which the global association celebrates as Founder’s Day, in honour of Mr Gmeiner.

Mrs Busia died on May 31, 2007, aged 87. She is survived by her daughters, renowned fashion designer Nana Akua Busia and Afia Boaten Busia, a retired international administrator; and her grandchildren.

On the tenth anniversary of her passing, an SOS Ghana website posted the following haunting In Memoriam:

“In remembrance of a great soul, Mrs Mercy Adebi Busia. Forever in our thoughts … Your instrumental role in the establishment of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana cannot be forgotten.

“Mrs Busia, SOS Children’s Villages will forever remember your vision.”
Without Mrs Busia’s vision, sacrifice and passion to help needy children experience a normal family life, one wonders if the SOS concept would have been introduced in Ghana then - or if at all. Of course it might have happened later, but in that case SOS Ghana most probably would not be celebrating its Golden Jubilee this year.

Thus I believe that every time the story of the founding of SOS Children’s Villages Ghana is told, it should be twinned with mention of the name of its founder, Mercy Adebi Busia.
Just a reminder.