This morning we met with David Betzer, director of the Children’s Shelter where we are staying, to find out more about his program. Dave and his wife Janice, originally from the US, moved to South Africa in 1994 to work with a Bible School. Through four years at the Bible School they became aware of a great problem in South Africa; abandoned and orphaned children. Many of the children that are abandoned or orphaned everyday were born to HIV positive mothers, meaning they have about a 50% chance of contracting the disease themselves. In 2000 David and Janice began taking abandoned and orphaned babies into their home and actually ended up adopting the first baby, Hope. The program grew as the children were continually brought into the safe shelter by mothers, police, or contacts. Originally the Children’s shelter was able to care for 6 children; now they are able to care for 30.
David asked us to wash our hands before holding any of the children explaining that we are more of a risk to them than they are to us. Many of the children are HIV positive, so our outside germs could cause them to become sick. In order to not create any difference in attention among the children they do not tell which children are HIV positive and which are not. As we entered the toddler room I felt like I was back in my old job at the YMCA daycare. There are cribs for each toddler, cheerfully painted walls, a fenced in play area, and a TV playing a DVD of kid’s songs. The main difference is that there will not be any parents coming to take the kids home for the night like the YMCA daycare; this is their home. The room adjoining the toddler room houses children up to 8 years old in bunk beds. A separate room is home to the infants; currently there is a two week old little boy in the room. Five or more staff members work during the day with the children while two members work at night in order to provide care around the clock. David explained that a good number of the children are adopted by Scandinavian families rather than American family because their adoption laws are similar. The children are adopted, taken back into the care of their families, or taken into a foster care system. Lighthouse is expanding in order to provide more foster care in the future. While we are here we will be helping to feed and play with the kids.
This afternoon David and his wife wanted to take one of the volunteers, Sonya, on a game drive and they allowed us to tag along. It was a great way to begin our time in South Africa.
This is something you want to yeild for…
I love being on a team with serious photographers.
I decided to take a risk.
