Creating a safe heaven

Monique Adams The concept for Hope for Life was started by Charlene Uakuramenua out of a desire to help pregnant women who find themselves in a crisis situation. She then included her pastor, Roland Engel from the Christian Family Centre, in her vision and the Hope for Life Foundation was founded and registered as a Section 21 company. Pregnancy can be an incredible time in a woman’s life but for many, it can be a frightening time when they feel most alone. The topic of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies is not easily discussed and is often shrouded in secrecy and shame.“The loneliness and despair many women face leads to attempts to abort their babies in extremely dangerous ways, which leave many of them scarred - both physically and emotionally - for life and the babies either dead or damaged. We do not want any woman to feel that she is unsupported and alone during this time. We want to walk beside women to support them both spiritually, emotionally and physically,” Rosalind Schlabitz, the CEO of the Hope For Life Foundation, said.Pregnancy support centreThe organisation’s main focus is the pregnancy support centre where they provide counselling, support and training for women and men facing an unplanned pregnancy. It’s their mission to save the lives of unborn babies by helping their mothers, educating communities on adoption and foster care, offering preventative programmes on abortion and abandoning babies at schools and providing skills training to mothers facing an unplanned pregnancy to assist them in caring for their child or children.After identifying basic needs mothers and families have, they started The Bare Necessities Project, where they provide clothing and toys for children in need. The organisation also started the Send a Child to School project, which raises funds to send children, who do not have the means, to school. Despite schools being free, there is still a voluntary contribution as well as school uniform and stationery that need to be paid for, and costs amount to about N$3 500 per child per year.Children’s village“One of our greatest desires is to build a children’s village which can accommodate about 100 children. We need large donations to do this. Not every child can be placed in a foster or adoptive home, but they need somewhere to call home, somewhere they belong. We want to build a loving, stable environment for children who have nowhere else to go,” Schlabitz said.Currently, they have 14 volunteers who work in various capacities, but they still need more. “We need people who have cars and would be prepared to deliver clothing and food parcels. We are also in need of someone to take care of our social media and to spearhead our fundraising efforts. Volunteers can apply by email to rosalind@hopeforlife.africa or call 081 266 5544,” Schlabitz said. In five years, she hopes the children’s village, four houses and a team of volunteers and councillors - in all 14 regions of Namibia – will be operational. Furthermore, they are planning to set up monthly training sessions for pre- and post-natal mums as well as having a team of nurses and doctors on board to care for the moms they support.“Our main challenge continues to be raising money, but our biggest achievement has been running this organisation throughout Covid-19 with no cash. We have run purely on donations of physical items and volunteers. From May 2020 to November 2020, we have given away 89 clothing and toy parcels, 16 food parcels and assisted 39 pregnant mums with counselling, emotional and spiritual support as well as clothing and food. “We have also helped several mums set up their own little businesses with the skills they possess to earn income. This has empowered them to dream bigger and take ownership of their lives,’’ Schlabitz said.For more information, visit hopeforlife.africa, email rosalind@hopeforlife.africa or call 081 266 55 44.

Creating a safe heaven

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Republikein 2025-12-18

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Creating a safe heaven

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