Huge demand for safe haven for babies

To be able to expand in order to house not only babies from birth to two years old but also children up to the age of four years is Ngwana Baby House project leader, Louise Snyman’s vision.
Snyman took over as project leader in April and says there is an enormous need for a safe haven for children in the birth to four-year-old age group who have been abandoned or removed from their parents due to neglect.
Ngwana Baby House is the only home of its kind that serves the province and the cost of running the home and caring for the babies far outweighs the financial grants received from Government. “We are very grateful to the public as well as companies and other institutions who assist us with donations,” Snyman said.
Snyman has always had a passion for doing charity work and says it is a calling sent to her by God. She started doing charity work as soon as she left school while she was first studying nursing and then teaching.
In 1987 she started doing a lot of work with various homes for unwed mothers in Pretoria. She and her family moved to Polokwane in 1993 when she immediately became involved with child welfare, which eventually led her to Ngwana Baby House’s doorstep. She served as secretary on the board for nine years before being appointed project leader.
“Only one in three babies who are abandoned survive. The babies who are here at Ngwana Baby House are the lucky ones. What about the others out there?”
Snyman explained that the babies looked after at Ngwana Baby House are babies who have been abandoned – found in the bushes, pit latrines or left at churches, hospitals and police stations – and others who have been removed from their parents by social workers from the Department of Social Development due to neglect.
There is a very strict process that needs to be followed to the letter before a baby can be adopted. This is where Santie Oberholzer, a social worker from Abba Specialist Adoptions and Social Services Organisation who has an office at the baby house, comes in. Abba forms part of the Apostolic Faith Mission’s Executive Welfare Council and has a mandate to facilitate both local and inter-country adoptions. “We want every baby here to find a home with a loving family but this is not always possible, sometimes because of the large amount of red tape we have to wade through,” Oberholzer said. Tabitha Thalane, Ngwana Baby House’s social worker agrees. “The social workers in the field have a huge caseload and this further complicates matters,” she added.
Snyman concluded by saying that if there is anyone with legal expertise prepared to assist Ngwana Baby House it would go a long way in assisting to smooth out some of the more difficult cases.
“We don’t only need help in the form of money and basic necessities but also assistance with services such as legal advice,” she concluded.

Story and photo: KAREN VENTER
>>karen@observer.co.za