HOLAH celebrates milestone
The House of Love and Hope has just welcomed its 20th baby.
HOLAH, the House of Love and Hope, which is a home for babies in Glenmore, is celebrating its 20th baby.
Leanne Lorrance and Kim Brown opened their doors and hearts on 6 November 2011 and on 5 January 2015 they welcomed their 20th baby, a milestone for the women.
“It's amazing and just motivates us to do more! By the end of the year we hope we will be able to open a second house,” said Leanne.
“It's awesome! We are now back up to our maximum six babies, so we have a full house. We had five babies for a while and it makes such a difference, and changes the whole dynamic,” said Kim.
Leanne said they had started HOLAH thinking they would take one baby at a time, in an almost fostering situation, until the baby was adopted, and go from there.
“It's great to have gone from that to this, where we now have four full time carers and bigger premises. It is quite an achievement and we are very proud, it's hard work!” she said.
Kim said she and Leanne had dreams to open a shop this year to sell excess baby items, which were donated and not used at HOLAH, but the proceeds of which would go back into running the house.
The women also encouraged the community to contact them and visit the home to see what it is all about.
“We encourage people to volunteer to spend time with the babies. We would also appreciate any donations of money to help run the home. We are lucky to have received a lot of donations at the end of the year but it goes so fast,” she said.
An appeal goes out to the community for donations of Infracare 1 and 2 and lactose free formula. As the babies are all eating solids, Leanne urged anyone who could help supply fresh food to contact her.
“If you are cooking for your family, we would love it if you could cook just a little extra for our babies. We prefer to give them fresh food to bottled food,” she said.
If you can help, contact Kim on 083 232 5501. Visit www.likhonithemba.hiv
