How it started?

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 (iKhaya LikaBaba) 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.  From then this ministry has just grown from strength to strength.

Under the new leadership of Mark and Cindy Neumann who took over from Alex and Michelle (who planted a church in Holland), they have gathered support and built a team who have been truly remarkable in increasing the capacity of the organisation, accountability and momentum.  We know that in their capable hands, God's heart will continue to be reflected through iKhaya LikaBaba.

As we prepare to leave Empangeni and head to Cape Town, there is a new building which can care for many babies, a volunteer house and a fantastic leadership team who will take this ministry further.  Our purpose was always to pioneer this home and hand it over to the church - which we did. Our season has now drawn to a close and we know that we have been called to be more effective and help others do what we have done and so much more.  We know that iKhaya LikaBaba will always be our "baby" but this relationship does not end here.  We are establishing an International Orphan Network (ION) which is about mentoring and equipping the church to take care of orphans.  Its will be built by invitation, relationship and support.  We do not believe in sharing information but sharing God's heart and the expression of that heart in everything we do from recruiting volunteers to how we interact with our communities.