DO Ubuntu and Molly Bam orphanage in Alexandria, South Africa

Molly Bam commonly known in the Alexandria Community as the “Alex Angel” has been operating the orphanage with the help of her husband Niels. They care for abandoned, abused, orphaned and physically challenged children without funding from the South African government. They support legally up to 23 children,  8 of whom they have legally adopted and 15 who are fostered. DO Ubuntu visited the orphanage for the first time in February 2010 and is supporting Molly and her children.

No child is turned away policy at Molly Bam

At Molly Bam, no children are turned away and it is normal to find at least 50 children at the home.  In addition at Molly Bam's they feed and care for approx 100 children from the township as their mothers work. Many of the children stay overnight as mothers get off late or have to go to hospital.  The children look happy despite their HIV/AIDS status and the children with disabilities scoot around inquisitively in their wheelchairs as to what we were doing and interacted actively with us visitors.

We dropped in at Molly’s after visiting one of our permaculture garden projects we started recently.  It was lunch time and the food looked very tasty and well balanced. The volunteers at the safe house are mostly women who grew up here and returned to live here with their children while helping out with the daily chores of the shelter.   Raising theirs along with the other children.

The boys room - bright and tidy.

The younger boys are separated from the older boys with their rooms decorated accordingly. The rooms are near Molly and her husband Niels’ bedroom, and on the same side of the house where Molly, at night, cares for the sick children. During the day time the other volunteers take care of the children and run all the chores of the shelter.  Molly Bam’s has children of all ages : from 6 months to 18 years old.  The girls’ room is under construction. So the girls are all a bit squashed in their current rooms. But it still looks neat and clean

The pantry is stocked with food and soap. Molly later told us that the American funder that supplies money for food stipulated that the money is not to be used for nappies. This is certainly something that we will look into.

Molly’s little Farm

The household is run relaxed -  most things go as long as the children are happy and not turned away. The children learn love from both Molly and animals: there are 3 dogs in the house and the garden is filled with ducks and birds.  It is beautiful to see the disabled children fitting in so naturally in the safe house family.  While there is not all the counseling that we see Marion at Botshabelo give the children (See our documentary “Angels In the Dust” ), it is definitely love that makes this home go around.

Lazarus, who you see here has been with Molly Bam since he was 4 motnhs old and has been legally adopted.

Molly Bam received a few donations from rotary and others.  As a result there is a little tree house with shade and mattress covered in plastic - to protect it from the rain. There is a pool in an enclosed area and garden furniture for the sitters to watch the children. All very neat and tidy.

In South Africa there are countless babies with AIDS and Molly is one of the very few to take them in.   Here they get love and needed medications.   Molly has a great relationship with the Port Alfred Hospital where ARVʼs are supplied on a monthly basis. At the time of our visit there were no babies in the special section of the house.

Building at a standstill.

Although there was one construction worker building...there was no team. Just one guy helping out with funds from his own pocket. The girls' bedroom....on hold. We arranged a donation of bricks from the Grahamstown brick works:  Makana Brick (http://www.makanabrick.co.za/) and building is back on track.

Molly tirelessly goes out and gets whatever she can.  You can see this around the place.

There have been a few unscrupulous builders working on the place, which is evident in the cracks in the newly build section. The builders got away with low standards as the only people available to supervize are specialized in the care of the children.   DO Ubuntu will support the orphanage in this second phase of building so it can be completed with the problem areas fixed up.

We brought fruit trees and planted them in the orchard.

The nearby newly planted Permaculture Garden will supply part of the food for the Orphanage; within 2 months the crops should be plentiful and the children will have FRESHLY picked vegetables.

On our second trip we evaluated building needs with Headman Gxamza.

Cracks in the wall will be filled with aerosol filler.  The roof will need to be stitched onto the old roof.  Extra labor by the builders on site will speed up the work.  They were short bricks and a call to Makana brick for 2000 bricks fixed the problem as Makana agreed to donate the bricks needed to complete the walls.  In addition sand, cement, roof material and the odd door and window were needed. Lots to do still, but the outlook is sunny again for Molly Bam’s orphanage.

How to help?  We support our work in Africa from sales of the Orphan Bracelets, donations and screening parties held throughout the world.