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nelson mandela bay's family lifestyle
author:
xandre van der berg
a promise
issue:
8, summer 2008
Promises are often made very carelessly. In various institutions for children where I have worked through the years, I would so often be numbed by the eager anticipation in a child's eyes – anticipation for the fulfillment of an empty promise made by a careless adult. I remember the first time I held my own children – the spontaneous promises that was born in my own heart: “I will always protect you. I will love you unconditionally. I will give you the best I have.” When I was introduced to ISITHEMBISO, I asked around our office what the word means. I was casually told by a colleague: “A promise – Isithembiso, means a promise”. Baffled I went back to their website and discovered, the children that are being cared for at Isithembiso have in their short lives lived nothing other than empty promises. Isithembiso is a vision of Oxygen Life Church. Their mission: “to reach the community by providing a safe home for children between the ages of birth and three years, children who have been abandoned due to HIV/AIDS, domestic abuse, poverty, death of the parents or caregivers and neglect. The ultimate – to have these children either reunited with their families or placed into temporary foster care, or permanent adoptive homes. It all started in November 2005, and since then they have cared for numerous babies. Being registered as a Place of Safety, they are at this stage only equipped to care for12 babies at a time. Larger premises and more live- in volunteers, would give them the opportunity and capacity to reach out and give hope to more babies, in similar situations. The babies they care for are not always abandoned due to circumstances of tragedy, but sometimes are given up by parents being unselfish, reaching for a better future than the one they themselves can offer to their children. “Their first 6 babies we cared for will be remembered with special affection. The first one arrived without prior notice and was soon followed by a pair of girls. Some left soon after arriving, to be reunited with a mother, after only 2 days.” Each and every baby are being treated and welcomed as a special, unique little person, bringing joy to the family at Isithembiso. Just as proud as parents would be, you hear the family at Isithembiso bragging about weight increases, unique personalities and bubbling laughs of a specific little bundle. “We have a full time House Parent, Arlette Claasens, with many years experience in managing similar environments. She passionately loves and nurtures our little ones, as if they are her own and she is constantly expanding her knowledge of HIV/AIDS, attending numerous courses. Our management team is not only a group of volunteers, but each one is specifically suited for the task.” I thought back to years ago when a friend taught me that we live in a broken world, full of broken people. A world in which we were lovingly brought up by broken parents and from our own brokenness manage the world around us. That explained broken promises to me. Promises can be made very hasty & often with no intent of that promise ever being kept. I went back to the scriptures – searching for a promise - “isithembiso” - and joined Jesus and his disciples in Matthew 19 verse 14 : “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Then is struck me: “by taking babies affected and/or infected with HIV/AIDS into our care, loving and caring for them, as Jesus would, we make a difference in one very vulnerable life - the life of a little person who had no choice.” By grace I have learned to trust God and his promises to me, learning about them in His Word and living them, but frequently, looking around me, I would stumble and fall over a casual promise, made in haste by fellow members of my society. At Isithembiso God's grace and His promises are made very real. There is another Divine promise I hang onto for my own life. In Jeremiah 1 verse 5 God says: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart.” This promise is made reality by Isithembiso Babies Home in 6 Jutland Crescent, Park Drive. It is shown to vulnerable and choice-less babies, through unconditional love and intimate care. Perhaps as Christmas draws near, it is our opportunity to take part in this careless fulfillment of some divine promises.
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