We are often asked how all of this started and I have been slow to write purely because sometimes these type of experiences happen in the privacy of our hearts and not in the public arena – however for many people, they want to understand our motives, understand who we are and mostly find out whether we are truly people of integrity. So this is our story.

This was not a project that happened overnight but was birthed years ago when Sean and I read a book on George Mueller – a remarkable man who transformed a country’s orphan crisis. Our hearts were stirred in the same way and as we talked we realized that something irrevocable had been done to our world perception.

In the years that followed, it kept resurfacing, dreams of children dying in their mother’s arms, poverty and the devastation in the lives of these special children.
It wasn’t until we had our daughter Savannah that we heard the call loud and clear. She was born with a genetic disorder called Trisomy 18. In fact we were told that she would not live longer than 48 hours. We spent 9 special months with her. In fact during that time, though we never knew when, we knew we would lose her.

What I found though was that as I held her, I thought to myself ‘this is what a mother feels like when they have a baby with an incurable disease – you know the most precious gift in your eyes could slip away at any moment’. We loved beyond the physical (her body was misformed and was a tiny 2kg – in fact she never got much bigger) and we loved her without restraint. We finally said goodbye to her 9 months later.

As we read newspapers about orphaned and abandoned babies our hearts cried for them as we considered these precious lives who deserved to be loved and cared for as much as any other child. Who needed the love and care of a mother’s arms, who deserved to be protected and seen as precious.

We started researching how to go about setting up a home for orphaned and abandoned babies with the support and encouragement of 2 very special people – Alex and Michelle van Laren (our then lead elders of the church Thandaza where we fellowship). They encouraged us to run with this project. After all the research, setting up a committee and meeting with other organizations we decided to take in our first baby in December 2007. This was a big decision as it would be into our own home. We had no finances, no staff, and could not wait any longer. Our first baby arrived and was the most precious child. In fact I had to restrain myself from adopting him myself.

Baby no 2 arrived in March as did baby no 3. By the time we took in baby no 4 we realized that this was no longer sustainable and was affecting our family life in a big way. With 3 boys of our own, homeschooling and running our own business, we were finding the pressure too much. We had at this point, hired one full time staff member and one part time one to help us at home.

Wanting to help us , Thandaza Covenant Church offered us a piece of their newly acquired land. It was a small 2 roomed house which needed LOTS of work but it was something we could work with, something that gave us a chance to regain some of our family life back. We built, we fixed, we painted – we moved all the babies and staff into the home in July 2008.

To say that is the end of the story is impossible as this is just the beginning. We are currently caring for 6 babies but we are in the process of setting up a home to care for 21 babies. The need is growing and the statistics are telling. Our heart is to make a difference in the lives of orphans in South Africa and worldwide.