The children of SOS Children's Village Itahari, in Nepal, lined up laden with garlands to welcome Sally Croker Poole. "Are you a Queen? Where is your crown?" they squealed in delight. She replied: "I am sorry. I'm only a Princess and I don't wear a crown." Sally is Princess Salimah Aga Khan, who was married to the Aga Khan, spiritual head of the world's Ismaili Muslims, for 25 years before their divorce in early 1995. Sally, as she insists on being called, was on a visit to three of seven villages operated in Nepal by the world-renowned charity SOS, which provides orphaned and destitute children with a permanent new home and "mother" - generally a widow from the local community - who takes care of up to eight children in a family unit. "Widows rarely marry in Nepal. They bring these children up as if they are their own. Their dedication is remarkable. They are the true heroes who care around the clock. One can never over-emphasise their importance," explains an impassioned Sally, speaking to HELLO! At her home overlooking Hyde Park on her return.
Many SOS children are vulnerable victims who have been left destitute following the death of one or both of their parents and have no extended family. "This is where SOS Children's Villages step in and provide a home and schooling until they can look after themselves," Sally explains.
The Charity also operates training centres where youngsters from the SOS Village and local community are given the opportunity to develop skills. During Sally's visit to Itahari, she was presented with an exquisite shawl made in one of the mothers' handicraft classes. She also met with a former Itahari child, now married with her own baby, who is a regular visitor to the village to see the mother she looks upon as her own.
"I feel I have come home when I am here doing this work," Sally confides. "It's where my heart is and I will do anything I can to help these wonderful people."
In the early years of her marriage, the young Begum - as she was known - crisscrossed India, Pakistan and Bangladesh to meet the Ismaili community. She visited schools and hospitals and charmed countless dignitaries in her representative role. But, unable to make decisions in this capacity, Sally could do little to improve the lot of the poor and needy. But when she and the Aga Khan divorced in March 1995, Sally set about carving a new life where she felt she could use her position more effectively.
In the November after the divorce, in a symbolic sale, she divested herself of some £ 18 million-worth of jewellery. Her determination to distance herself from the image of being only the ex-wife of one of the world's wealthiest men was echoed in the Christie's catalogue for the sake, which stated : "Times change and Princess Salimah now looks forward to exciting new chapters in her life led, perhaps, with a little less ceremony than before."
It was exactly at this moment that Sally first came across the work of SOS Children's Villages, on the Pacific Island of Tahiti, where she had sought refuge from the publicity surrounding the sale. She says of the encounter: "It seemed to fall out of heaven at just the right time in my life when I was free and eager to dedicate myself to something real and meaningful."
As soon as she landed, Sally was met by Gaston Flosse, President of the Territorial Government of French Polynesia, who was involved in building the first-ever SOS Children's village in the Pacific. "We went straight from the airport to the building site. We didn't even stop off at the hotel," Sally recalls.
She immediately agreed to support the project and promised to return the following year for the opening. "I knew as soon as my divorce was final that I wanted to be active and not just a titular figure. I wanted to have a full and meaningful life," she say's. When I stumbled on Papara and the work being done there, I literally felt that I had found a new beginning and turned a new page in my life. But I didn't just want to launch myself into it and merely lend my name to the charity.
"I was never interested in being a charitable figurehead who puts on a dress and attends a fundraising ball from time to time. I thought long and hard and decided first I had to learn about SOS. I can assure you that every cent given to the charity is put to good use. More than 40,000 children are currently educated in 370 villages in over 128 countries. It's a gigantic success story. But the real heroes are the donors and the mothers, without whom the charity would not exist."
When she returned to Papara, she found that the village only had one minivan for 60 people and went directly to the island's vehicle outlet and paid cash for two more - driving one back to the village herself. Later in the week, a further shopping expedition produced eight much needed freezers which would allow the mothers to shop weekly rather than daily, leaving them more time to be with the children. It was the greatest Christmas present the children could have expected.
In the new year, Sally is to visit more SOS Children's Village in Africa as part of a series of events to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the charity. Two weeks before the Nepal visit she had also visited the SOS Children's Village of Bucharest at the invitation of Romanian President Constantinescu --and she will most certainly be returning during the coming year to Tahiti, where it all began for her.
In her role as the wife of the Aga Khan and as the mother of his successor, her charm and popularity, which eclipsed that of her more powerful husband, was at best underemployed. Now free to pursue the issues that concern her, Sally has cut herself free from the trappings that characterised her former life.
And yet, it's clear that swathed in a dazzling silk sari high in the hills above Pokhara, the Annapurna range in the background, Princess Salimah still cuts a figure as regal as any Queen.
Interview: Susan Rozsnyai
Photos Katja Snozzi
For further information and donations :SOS Children's Village UK, 32 Bridge St, Cambridge CB2 1U.
Tel: 01223-365589