Door of Hope has been going through many changes over the past couple of months.  These changes have come about for many reasons, but the biggest being that Door of Hope is growing faster than the organization was structured to support.  Door of Hope has been open for 11 years and the problem of abandoned babies is not getting any better in South Africa.  There are at least three babies abandoned every day in the greater Johannesburg area, and our goal is still to save as many lives as possible.

Not one sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it! You are more valuable to Him than many sparrows

Matthew 10:29-31

With the new structure I have been asked to take a new role here at Door of Hope by becoming the Baby Home Manager at the main baby house (baby house one) in Glenvista.  This house is the home to thirty babies with the potential of housing a few more.  The Baby Home Manager is responsible for overseeing all the children that come through this house and to prepare them medically and legally for adoption.  I will also be overseeing the running of the house, the daily care of the babies, the staff, and the international and local volunteers that work at this house.  I’m very excited for this new role but very worried about the amount of work it involves.

There are three different departments at this house!  The first department is our small babies room for our newborns and premature babies.  Many of our babies are premature, and a large percentage of the premature babies are a result of a failed late term abortion.  These babies usually start their lives fighting to survive.  To try and keep them as healthy as possible we keep all our premature babies at this house and closed off to visitors.  At the moment they only have a single room, but our hope is to eventually move our small babies to our two bedroom apartment on the bottom floor.

The next department that I will be overseeing is our big babies.  Any of our healthy babies over 3 months of age will move out into our big baby rooms.  Here we have more local and shorter term international volunteers working with our children.  Most of these babies are ready for adoption and just waiting on the court to clear them to go.

The final department is our starfish program that is currently in our two bedroom apartment on the bottom floor of the house.  This department is for our babies that need special care or attention to help them reach their full potential at life.   Our hope is to eventually have enough funding to move this program to its own house.  We have had so many success stories in this program and we would love to expand since there is such a great need.

Each and every baby at Door of Hope has been such a blessing to my life.  Although I can’t legally introduce you to each and every one of them through my blog (but you can come meet them all in person), my hope is to do the best that I can to keep you indirectly involved in their little lives.

My first introduction is to my beautiful baby girl “A”.  She is the first baby that I was able to name here at Door of Hope.  Baby “A” was abandoned shorty after birth and left to die, but God had another plan for her life.  I gave her the name “A…” because it means “God is my refuge and protection”.   Baby “A” is up for adoption in the next few months.  I’m so excited to place her into the arms of her new mommy and daddy!

*All these amazing photos are the great work of Stacey Hume!

When you came through the bin we knew God had great plans for your life.  We prayed many blessings over you and your future, and we began praying for God to provide you with a forever family.

On average we have 15 babies come through our doors each month.  Out of the 15 around three come through our baby bin.  A mother in desperation can leave her child anonymously at any hour of the day or night knowing that her child will be received, loved and cared for by someone on the other side.

The rest of the babies come to our home by varies means.  Some are abandoned at the hospital shortly after birth, and some are brought to us by police who find the babies in trash bins, abandoned in parks or other places.   We even have mothers come and lovingly sign their babies over for adoption knowing that they are unable or unwilling to care for their child.

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Only two weeks ago there was a report in a local South African newspaper stating “Soweto police investigating dead baby”. The small baby girl was found burned to death and abandoned in a dump site about twenty minutes from Door of Hope in Soweto. There is always a horrible moment of silence in the office when we hear about another child that we were unable to reach in time.

Although we could not save her life, we decided that a proper burial was only appropriate for this tiny baby girl. She was not given the dignity and love that she deserved during her short life, but she deserved to be respected and loved in her passing. Little did we know that collecting her remains would mean uncovering a whole new horrifying world of abandoned babies in Johannesburg.

Stephanie (one of the girls on the leadership team) located the morgue where the child’s body was being kept and drove down to inquire about providing a burial. The Mortician was shocked by her interest in the child and the fact that we wanted to give her a proper burial. He was also confused as to which baby we wanted since he currently had thirty bodies of abandoned babies that had died that same week.

He explained to Stephanie that at the dump site where the child was found the police collect the bodies of at least two babies a week. He also informed her that if she was to go to all the morgues throughout Soweto she could collect two hundred bodies of small babies who have been abandoned in the past few weeks! The numbers are outrageous and so far no one has shown much interest in this overwhelming death rate of small babies.

The leadership team at Door of Hope was informed about the dump site and the statistics, and we knew that God was calling us to action. We firmly believe that this discovery was made so that we can put an end to these killings. This was not a coincidence that this had been brought to our attention but an act of God.

Our hope now is to slowly start putting up baby bins at different dump sights and hot spots for abandoning children throughout Soweto and Johannesburg. These baby bins (lock boxes) will be a secured box that a mother can place her child in and it will lock as soon as she closes it. A sensor inside the box will set off an alarm alerting us that there is a baby, and we will fetch the child as quickly as possible. We already have one baby bin in downtown Johannesburg but we know that we need to start setting up more. We are desperate to start seeing this high number of infant deaths come to an end!

Unfortunately, it is not as easy as it sounds but we know and trust that God will open the necessary doors that will allow us to keep caring for these children! We cannot turn our backs to these children and ignore their cries any longer!

In the past few months a new ministry opportunity has opened up for Ferdi and I to work long term with an organization called Door of Hope in Johannesburg, South Africa. Door of Hope is a children’s home located in the heart of Johannesburg which provides temporary housing for babies and toddlers who have been abandoned, abused or neglected. 

About Door of Hope…

“Some time ago, it came to our attention that in greater Johannesburg alone, 40 to 50 babies are abandoned every month and left to die of starvation or exposure. We knew beyond doubt that our Lord was prodding us to do something about this crying need.

In August 1999 we installed a “hole in the wall” or “baby bin” in the wall of the Mission Church, where babies can be placed 24 hours a day. A sensor alerts the people in the house whenever a newcomer has arrived. We will come to fetch the baby and will thereafter begin caring for him/her.” (Founder of Door of Hope)

In the past week we have had our 900th baby come through our doors. Only some of our babies come through the hole in the wall but others are dropped off by police, left at hospitals after delivery, found abandoned in parks, on the side of roads, in trash bins, and more. Once we receive the children we start medical care immediately and do our best to get these children placed in their “forever homes” as soon as possible.

Currently we have the space to care for 55 kids in three different houses, but most months we are filled to capacity. Our first house is located in the heart of Johannesburg and is in the back of the church where the hole in the wall is located. The other two houses are located in Glenvista, which is right outside the city. The main house in Glenvista houses 30 kids and the second house is our Toddler house which is the home to 10 children.

Our Roles at Door of Hope…

My role at Door of Hope entails a variety of different things. The girl who is currently the Baby Care Manger is leaving the ministry at the end of August and this has opened up a need for someone to take her place. I am currently being trained, with one other girl, to take over all of her responsibilities. The two of us together will be overseeing all the children that come through our doors.

I will be in charge of all things medical involving the children. This includes doctors visits, getting them medically cleared for adoption, clinic visits, picking up newborns from the hospital, HIV clinic and anything else that might medically come up with our children at the home. I will also be overseeing our Toddler house program, as well as helping to coordinate and over see all of our overseas volunteers that come to help with our children.

Ferdi is also involved with Door of Hope. He is the administrator and spends the majority of his time in office helping to make sure the ministry can continue running as smooth as possible. Of course, with him being the only man in the office, he has been tagged as the maintenance man as well.

Ferdi and I would love to be able to commit to working with Door of Hope long term. We have both fallen in love with the ministry and the children that we are working with, and we want to continue to serve them and provide them with a temporary family.