It is estimated that 3 500 babies survive abandonment each year in South Africa. For every baby found alive, it is estimated that two (2) will die.  It is with this background that Tiffini and Richard Hein founded the Maletsatsi Foundation. The foundation provides a temporary family for children in transitionary spaces. It is primarily a home to abandoned, abused, neglected and other babies in need, essentially a

‘stop over’ home during the finalisation of a child’s permanency either through reunification with the child’s family or through adoption.  The Hein family has seen no less than 67 children go through their home and foundation, with some children adopted by the family, others reunited with their families and others adopted or moved to foster homes. Tiffini says they aim to create social awareness around abandonment and to address systemic scars of socio-economic, racial and gender based biases.

The foundation aims to create dialogue around the role of civil society, as a whole, in supporting women so as to shift the dynamics and stigmas around unwanted or unplanned pregnancies, creating a support network that uplifts mothers who find themselves in spaces of crises.

The organisation says they acknowledge the systemic breakdown resulting in the unnatural disconnection between birth (what they refer to as first mothers) and their children. This is why they aim to dismantle structures which disenfranchise women to such a degree that they are rendered unable to parent.  The foundation is committed to shedding light on the patriarchal norms which release men from the responsibility for crisis pregnancies and hopes to help in the reduction of gender based violence

which so often results in unplanned pregnancies and resulting abandonments.

They are vocal that no woman should be forced to desert her child simply due to dire socio-economic circumstances stating that this is sadly a reality for many.

The Maletsatsi Foundation is currently made up of three homes, the Letśatśi House, Nomalanga House and Selemo House.  All homes are based on a private property owned by the Hein family in Midrand, South Africa. Each home is headed up by a house mother who serves as the legal guardian for the children during their transitionary time.

Each house mother is a trained, unemployed nurse who has been empowered to hire a ‘right hand’ in the form of a support carer.  The homes are supported by shared laundry and kitchen assistants.  The care giver team of stand in mothers, all bond and connect with their respective children and provide temporary family for 18 children currently.

Whilst equipped with nursing knowledge, the team is also empowered with information on trauma based care, acknowledging that every child who comes to the homes starts with trauma.

In the future, The Maletsatsi Foundation hopes to be able to create awareness around the challenges many first mothers face, through structured campaigns and community outreaches. These awareness campaigns will aim to alert the general public to the realities of the larger story of abandonment, with the hopes of creating sufficient awareness around the role each citizen plays in creating a society in which these atrocities become impossible – a world where no woman is unsupported so severely that they are left with no option but to abandon their baby.

The Foundation will continually champion women on, so that they are able to parent where possible.

Tiffini says “Caring for babies is just the treatment of a symptom of a much larger issue wherein society is devoid of the “village“ – the strong family foundation

desperately needed to raise a family. We hope to work to change this.”