Window of Hope relocates to Boksburg North
Window of Hope, a safe house for abandoned babies, has recently moved from Dawn Park to Boksburg North due to the old premises being too small to maintain their services.
The new premises are at 46A Second Street, Boksburg North with the entrance on Ninth Avenue.
Window of Hope provides abandoned infants a place of safety for at least 60 to 90 days thereby offering mothers enough time to reclaim their babies.
If the baby is not claimed within that period, the infant is placed into a foster-care facility, followed by an adoption programme.
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After the baby is taken in at Windows of Hope all the critical procedures pertaining to the hospital, courts and final placements are followed until a foster home is ready for the arrival of the baby.
Pastor Joey Nel is the founder of Window of Hope. She says that since their establishment early this year, they have assisted many abandoned children into foster care after they were left at the drop box.
The safe box, which has a sensor plate that activates an alarm once a baby is placed inside the box, is installed in the wall to alert the house mother and the security guard that there is a new arrival.
It has also come to light that Care Bear Gauteng has parted ways with Window of Hope.
- New partnership
“We decided to part ways with Care Bear Gauteng and we are happy to announce that we have joined hands with Kuselo Child and Youth care services,” she said.
Kuselo is a NPO that relies on the generosity and support from the public. Kuselo provides many needed professional services such as home-based care to child-headed and granny-headed families, family intervention and family preservation support services such as setting up parenting plans, family counselling and family unity programmes.
Amanda Coetzee, the director of Kuselo, said their programmes are in line with what Windows of Hope does so they will assist Windows of Hope with administrative tasks, counselling and other services.
“We want to bring change and development to the community by making sure that abused and abandoned children are taken care of,” Coetzee said.
- New house
The new house in Boksburg North consists of three child-friendly bedrooms with other rooms such as the office, kitchen and dining room.
The safe house has two house mothers and volunteers who assist with the running of the house.
Outside the house you are greeted by vibrant colours and a blue drop box.
The new place in Boksburg North is rented but Nel said it would be an honour to own it as they are in need of their own permanent home.
Nel urged the public, especially residents of Boksburg North, not to open the drop box unnecessarily.
“Every day the alarm rings in the house. House mothers then rush outside to receive the baby, but when they check there is no baby.
“Many times we have caught children and even adults opening the box just to see what’s inside. This causes confusion because house mothers run around for nothing. It is important for people to know the functions of the drop box so it is only used by desperate mothers who want to abandon their babies,” Nel said.
Nel said since they moved to Boksburg North, the public has been supportive.
“We thank Ben Uys from the Sunwardpark Gemeenskapkerk who sponsored the material and labour to build the wall at our new home, Andries Trystman and his wife Jackie who assisted with placing the safe box and did the beautiful artwork on the wall, as well as Incity Alarm and AAA Alarms who have sponsored their armed response services.”
Window of Hope aims to reduce the statistics regarding dead babies by offering mothers an alternative.
The safe house has provided a wish list: Junior jungle gym, linen for single beds, mattresses, paint, baby clothes and non-perishable food.
If anyone would like to donate anything to this cause, they may contact Joey or Amanda on 072 209 8957 or 072 512 7227 respectively.
