Noah’s story

Noah was placed in Izi when he was 18 months old. He lived and thrived through all the love at Izi until he was 5 years old. We are a South African couple who live in France for work reasons. After a very lengthy and difficult adoption period we were finally able to take Noah back to France. Noah’s case was a very difficult one, which resulted in us contacting Carte Blanche who helped us highlight the failed adoption system in South Africa. After it aired, we were able to make headway with the process in a relatively short time due to suddenly having the ear of certain government officials, a very tenacious legal team, Wandisa Adoption Agencies expertise and the support of the South African viewers.

Noah’s years at Izi have contributed hugely to who is today – a very confident, joyous, loving, compassionate, popular young man. He has very positive memories of his life at Izi and often talks about his “brothers and sisters” and the “mamas” who he shared his life with.

Today, he is firmly entrenched in French life – he attends a French school, is totally fluent and feels very much that France is his home. We are a ‘proudly South African” family and Noah is proud to tell people he is a South African and adopted. He loves the story of how we met and how we became a “forever family”. He is our joy and our blessing, and we feel so privileged to have this beautiful child as our son. Every minute of hardship during the adoption process was worth it when we look at him. We are incredibly proud of who he is as a person and much of that is due to the love and feeling of security he received at Izi. We will always be eternally grateful for the years Noah had at Izi.

Noah is now a very accomplished pianist.

Temba’s story

Temba was born in the local Provincial Hospital to a single mother who was HIV+ and suffered from TB. He was premature, sickly and born with a rare and ugly congenital skin disease. Too overwrought by her own problems, Temba’s mother probably did not have the emotional or physical energy to cope with a needy baby, so she absconded from the hospital leaving her baby behind. Until Izibusiso opened, Themba had no permanent home.

Temba was one of the first toddlers to arrive at Izibusiso, except he couldn’t toddle; he was minute, suffering from Kwashiorkor and wheezing because of repeated chest infections, his little legs so weak some thought he would never walk. If you had visited Izibusiso some months later you would have seen a completely different little boy – though still small for his age, he was happy and healthy and had the biggest smile anyone could imagine. Every morning he proudly put on his little satchel and set out to walk to nursery school. Twice a year he has been scheduled to see a specialist to check his congenital condition.

Sadly, Themba will never know his own mother – she came once to Izibusiso to see him, but he did not know who she was. She sat apart, hunched up and coughing – two weeks later she died. After his mother’s death, Child Welfare placed him with his aunt in the Eastern Cape. She was given full details on how to handle his condition and he is happily settled with his maternal family.

Nono’s story

When Nono arrived at Izibusiso, most of the adults who saw her cried, she was only three years old, but her eyes were older. She was dressed in tatters and was obviously undernourished, but it was the condition of her skin that was the most disturbing. Nono had impetiago, it covered her face and a lot of her body. Neglect of the condition had caused the child to scratch, creating weepy sores which attracted flies. The eggs laid by the flies were hatching under her skin and we could squeeze the living larvae from the sores. Upon further inspection it was found that Nono had also been subjected to sexual abuse.

Nono stayed at Izibusiso while she was healing – she was a brave little patient and let us treat her sores without complaint, it is not often that such fortitude is seen in one so young and she stole the hearts of all who met her. She was legally removed from the care of her single mother and is now living with her grandmother in the Eastern Cape.

Jacko’s story

Jacko’s mother never wanted him. Months before he was born, she contacted Child Welfare to enquire about what options there were for an unwanted baby; she was counselled on many occasions and made aware of the various routes she could follow. Concerned Social Workers, fearing for the health of the baby also informed the expectant mother about the danger of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy. Jacko’s mother gave birth at home and then took him to the local hospital where she left him – apart from naming him, she has since neither seen nor enquired about him.

One day after his birth, Jacko arrived at Izibusiso where he was immediately welcomed into the Izibusiso family. The caring House Mothers bottle fed and cared for this baby boy and, although he was tiny for his age, we watched him grow and develop into a beautiful and happy baby. Initial concerns that there might be some neurological damage were, happily, unfounded and Jacko has now been adopted by a loving family. (Welfare workers were able to trace his mother to a nearby town and she signed all the necessary legal forms, enabling the adoption process to take place).