Floyd & Sally McClung

Baby Safe is our ministry to young mothers in need and babies that are at risk. This story is written by Bethany O’Connor who leads Baby Safe.

“There was a young girl I had been looking for this week, after having been told about her, from friends in Masi.  I found her yesterday. Basically she had a baby a week ago, she was so desperate as her boyfriend was supposed to take her in, as she just arrived from Zimbabwe, but he left her, because he has a wife here. He would not take her calls and she described wanting to take her life. She had the baby at False Bay Hospital but then left him in the field next to Food Zone grocery store. So she is staying with her cousin, and he asked where the baby was, she said that it died at the hospital, but he didn’t believe her and so then he made her go back and get the baby who was alive. She was so afraid and distraught because she had nothing, no money, etc…and her cousins wife, didn’t want her there, etc.. I was told before meeting her that she still didn’t want the baby, which is why I sought her out.

But after one week with us, she is feeling much better, she has attached to the baby, she does want him, she has made some friends, and although her cousin’s wife is being very mean and will share nothing with her, including nappies ( she was using a towel).. she wants to keep the baby. I explained adoption, what the options are for the baby, etc.. She was very closed to the idea, as she really seems to want her son. I was very comfortable with her state of mind, she was very sweet and she was honest about how she feels so much better about things now. She does know the Lord, and said she loves Jesus very much. She named her son, a Shona name which means “thankful to the Lord” . I left her with some nappies, clothes, blankets, etc that the Michigan team brought. We prayed together. It is great because Porcia and Nosiviwe ( two girls from our house churches) have become her friends now. They prayed with us. You can pray for her, as she desperately needs a job, and also needs to get her asylum paperwork figured out at Home Affairs. She had tears in her eyes, when we talked about God having good plans for her here, plans of a hope and a future, for her and Dion ( her son).

Thats the second Baby Safe client this week. The other was a 19 year old in Ocean View who I was connected with through the clinic. I counseled with her; her mom was forcing her to have an abortion ( her 2nd) on Monday. But she didn’t want to do it, and thus needed a place to stay for her pregnancy. We found her one of the last beds in Cape Town, available for a pregnant woman. When I left her, we prayed the Lord would turn her mom’s heart before I came to pick her up on Friday to go to the home.  Thats exactly what happened and her mom had actually decided to not make her abort, and let her stay living with her. Pray for her, as she battles drug addiction. She has been clean since she discovered she was pregnant. I am going to see if she will commit to outpatient drug counseling (which I know of a free place and nearby). She gave her heart to the Lord a year ago, but needs to be cared for and discipled desperately.”

Bethany O’Connor for Baby Safe/All Nations