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| Since 2003, Baby Haven has been a place of safety for dozens
of children and placed more than half for adoption. In a government
system overburdened with the orphan crisis, Baby Haven has
been part of the answer. |
Names and details have been changed in the
following story.
Rachel's Story
Rachel was born in 2005 at a provincial hospital on the
West Rand, weighing 2.2 kg. Her birth mother was HIV+, and
already had another child. She was unemployed and unable
to care for another baby. When she left the hospital she
left her baby behind, where she stayed for a few weeks before
being placed at Baby Haven. As her records named her only
“Baby,” Amy (a Baby Haven volunteer) named her
Rachel. |
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| When Grant and Jean had their two daughters,
Anne and Hayley, the name Rachel was, in both cases, the alternate
choice. From about the time when Anne was born, both felt
convicted about adopting an orphan, to follow the instruction
in the biblical book of James to “look after the widows
and orphans.” This feeling grew stronger over the next
few years, until the beginning of 2005, when they felt they
needed to pray it through seriously and decide once and for
all if they were going to adopt or not. As they prayed and
chatted to various people, it became clearer and clearer in
their minds that this was God’s will for them and that
there was a very special child waiting for them. |
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The decision was made. Grant and Jean would start looking
for a baby girl. During this time of searching, they heard
about the Baby Haven project - they would later work out
that they first heard about Baby Haven on the very day that
Rachel was born! Over the next few weeks, they met with
David and Caroline Webb a few times. They had been concerned
about how they would know which child was "theirs"?
It was during this period, two little girls came into Baby
Haven - Lydia… and the baby called Rachel! This was
surely the baby for them! With a sure sense of peace that
this was their baby, Grant and Jean, Anne and Hayley took
Rachel home on Saturday 16 July.
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