SOS Children’s Villages heralds our hope for the future

“In this poor village in Africa the children live in grave uncertainty, for them there is no hope.” So proclaims a plummy Pathé News-style TV newscaster patronising the hell out of said poor Africans. A girl watching the TV show retorts, that, actually, they do have hope, plenty of potential and a bunch of grand plans, thank you very much. 

Set to an upbeat track by 17-year-old Norwegian artist Musti and finished with a rich palette of warm colours, this engagingly sunny film Are You With Us, was created by Oslo agency, Per Hoj, and directed by Ida & Andreas for the charity SOS Children’s Villages. 

Shot in Johannesburg, it features a range of plucky nippers filmed in their impoverished, ‘hope-less’ backgrounds as they outline their various ambitions – to bring democracy to their country, enable literacy, provide clean water for everyone, be the best peacekeeper the world has known. 

“I’m going to solve the climate crisis!” yells one small girl standing on a huge mound of plastic waste. She slowly sets about picking up the trash, one piece at a time. 

The Committee of Norwegian Friends of the SOS Children's Villages was founded in 1964 to support the worldwide activities of SOS Children's Villages, which funds the building of family homes around the globe.