Mother’s Day is a special day specifically created to honor mothers – but this day is not exclusive for biological moms but also includes moms of all forms.
This year, ANC features a mother who has 28 children and 22 grandkids even without giving birth to a single baby!
Jinky Adona is an “SOS Mother” who has dedicated her life in caring for kids under non-government organization (NGO) SOS Children’s Villages International.
Despite not having biological children of her own, Jinky will celebrate Mother’s Day awesomely because she has a lot of kids in her happy home! While many of her kids have grown up and living independently outside the village, they do visit regularly and nine of them have given her a total of 22 grandkids.
“SOS Mother” Jinky Adona
Photo credit: ANC
The village Jinky and her kids live in is just one of the eight other SOS Villages set up by the NGO in the Philippines. To date, the NGO has villages in Manila, Cebu, Davao, Bataan, Iloilo, Calbayog, Tacloban, and Lipa.
Jinky was 23 when she had her ‘first child’. She was new to the village and was helping out prepare food for the ten children living there when one of the called her “ma”. The experience gave her goosebumps but she was so deeply touched by it that she vowed to become a real mother to these abandoned and neglected kids.
There was no turning back for Jinky since then. She does admit that her role as mother in the village is not always easy, especially when there are new kids to care for and train (such as how to use the toilet!) as well as when they get sick yet Jinky’s passion to be a mom did not waver.
The NGO pays for the children’s education until tertiary level; then, they are required to leave the village after graduation so they can live independently and, also, to open spots for more kids to be cared for by their moms. But since they have become close to their moms in the village, they regularly come back to visit.
Every Christmas, all Jinky’s kids come for a reunion and they spend the holiday together.
Watch her story here: