In December 2015, a Pietermaritzburg couple named Morris and Ronika Sookoo were going about their day when a passerby stopped them with urgent news. Wrapped in a brown blanket, a baby boy was sitting quietly outside the gate of their home on Jinnah Road. He was not crying or fussing. Morris got such a shock when he saw the baby sitting outside his gate.
The Sookoos immediately contacted the authorities, and we came and took custody of the child. The baby appeared to be about seven months old, and looked very well-cared for and healthy. Ronika's words stayed with me long after that day: "Why would anyone want to leave such a beautiful baby? It is just too sad." It is sad. And it is a story that finds its way to our door more often than most people realise. A phone call. A knock. A baby wrapped in a blanket, left somewhere by a mother at the very end of her rope.
Every child who arrives at Thandi House arrives differently. Some come through the authorities. Some come from hospitals. Some, like the little boy on Jinnah Road, are found by ordinary people who do the right thing and make the call. But whatever the circumstances, what follows is always the same, a child is brought through our door, and from that moment, they are ours. Not temporarily. Not until something better comes along. Permanently. We take every child into our family as our own, and they remain with us for as long as they need us. We do not turn children away on their 18th birthday, as many other homes do. We support them into adulthood, until they are able to stand on their own two feet. Because a family is forever.
When a baby or child first arrives, our first priority is always their immediate physical wellbeing. A full medical check-up, nutritional assessment, and whatever urgent treatment is needed. Many of our children have arrived in serious condition, malnourished, medically neglected, or physically harmed. Some have come to us from situations of profound trauma.
But physical health is only the beginning. What we have learned over the years of doing this work is that what a child needs most, even more than food or medicine, is someone who shows up. Consistently. Reliably. Every single day. Someone who knows their name, knows their story, knows what makes them laugh and what makes them afraid.
None of what we do is possible without the community that surrounds us. Every donation, every prayer, every shared post, every bag of groceries left at our door, all adds up to a child who is fed, educated, medically cared for, and deeply, unconditionally loved.
If you would like to support Thandi House, please visit thandihouse.com/support or contact us directly on 061 467 6612 (WhatsApp preferred).
The Thandi House Family
