New BeginningZ gives babies new lease of life

When Ms Tahiyya Hassim gave birth to her baby boy many years ago, she had no idea that she was going to make a difference to so many lives.

Ms Hassim gave birth to Zameer Hassim on December 20, 2000.

“He was a healthy, happy baby with no complications. Well, at least not medical ones. He did however have genetic complications in the sense that, as little as he was, he was headstrong, stubborn and knew exactly what he wanted and when. He was a mommy’s boy through and through. We were now blessed with two wonderful children, a boy and a girl (then two years old),” said Ms Hassim.

Little did they know that nine weeks later their lives would change forever.

On March 5, 2001 a fatal car crash left her baby Zameer fighting for his life in ICU, brain damaged and hooked up to machines that kept him alive. The accident also left Ms Hassim paralysed from the waist down. In a few hours Zameer had undergone two major brain surgeries that were unsuccessful.

“The prognosis was devastating and just when we thought it could not get any worse, the doctors told us that we had to make a decision about whether to switch the machines off. We had until the next day,” she said.

It seemed baby Zameer was not going to let his parents take that hard decision as he made it for them.

“Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your personal outlook, our son made that decision for us. As I cradled by baby boy’s limp little body in my left arm, I reached up to remove more dry blood and embedded glass pieces from my head, and his little hands reached up to his face, on his own, and he pulled out all the drips, pipes and drainage tubes that were connected to his face and in his head. This was the most terrifying moment of my entire life.

“I was screaming for the doctors and nurses to reconnect everything but they said it wouldn’t help. My family said that this was meant to be and that God has a reason for everything. At least we didn’t have to flip the switch; Zameer decided for us,” said Ms Hassim.

Out of that pain, frustration and anger with God, New BeginningZ (NBZ) was started.

New BeginningZ is based in Laudium, Pretoria. Ms Hassim said about two weeks after her son’s funeral, she had a dream about Zameer one night and woke up the next morning with a new mission in life.

“I knew I had to do something. I had to make a difference. I told God that my son was not going to die in vain and that I needed guidance and direction to change disadvantaged children’s lives in his name but also in memory of my beautiful baby boy,” she said.

New BeginningZ has been in operation since 2001, with the main focus being children living and working on the streets.

In 2003, due to the HIV/Aids pandemic, they included child-headed households to their focus group and in 2004 they had to include abandoned babies and toddlers.

“We cater for children between the ages of newborn up to 18 years. It is of great importance for us to render services and programmes that are in the best interest of every individual child that we deal with,” she said.

Part of their success can be attributed to Edenvale-based MAMAS Alliance. MAMAS Alliance brings together CSI donors and NGOs and facilitates their relationship free of charge.

This ensures that the funding agreements and the transfer of funds always takes place directly between the CSI funder and the recipient NGO, and not via MAMAS Alliance.

Ms Nthabiseng Phakela, secretariat of MAMAS Alliance, said MAMAS does not receive any fee, percentage or provision from this funding arrangement.

“The secretariat will ensure that the CSI partnerships are based on open communication, transparency and accountability from all parties involved,” said Ms Phakela.

Ms Hassim said New BeginningZ is an umbrella organisation in the sense that it deals with various groups of orphans and vulnerable children, not just focusing on one group in particular. “On the day our little Zameer would’ve been eight years old, my husband registered the Zameer Hassim Foundation. We decided, as a family, that although NBZ was already dedicated to Zameer, we would use the foundation named after him to do extra special projects under this part of New BeginningZ.

At the moment, these programmes include:

r Rat bite victims – Through this initiative they donate their extra camp cots through the Johannesburg Department of Environmental Health and the City of Johannesburg to rat bite victims. “Small babies and children are bitten and often literally eaten alive by rats and sometimes whole packs of rats. These children are from various informal settlements. On December 31, 2009 we handed the first 10 cots over to the City of Johannesburg to distribute to these victims.

r Schoolgoing mothers – A few schools have approached the foundation in need of assistance with teenage mothers who attend school. Ms Hassim said some of these children don’t have support systems, which means that they stay absent from school and their grades drop due to the fact that there is no one to help them with their babies. “We find sponsors to pay for an approved and registered nursery school or a day mother near the pupil’s home in order for her to go to school, come home, do homework and housework and cook before she fetches her child. This programme has very strict criteria,”said Ms Hassim.

r Entrepreneurial mothers – They also have two unnamed projects where they assist mothers who sell sweets or have the portable phone stalls on the side of the road if they have small babies by providing them with a pram, clothes and warm blankets for the child. “I feel that these mothers are at least trying to provide themselves with an income instead of standing with a “Please help, no food for children” board at a robot,” she said.

r Babies behind bars – They had to stop this programme as all the inmates and their children were moved to Johannesburg and there was no longer a need for related services here in Pretoria.

“Where we see a need, we try to make a difference. The problem, however, is that the need out there is growing at such a rapid rate, that it is impossible to save the world, but we must always try. Nothing is possible without the support of various sponsors and donors. Each programme area requires certain material, financial and personal assistance and this is where we want to appeal to the community,”said Ms Hassim.

She said they have a detailed needs analysis of each programme area and if anyone is willing to assist in any way, it will be greatly appreciated.