Cape Town - A Somerset West mother has so much love to offer. Besides looking after her son, she cares for seven toddlers who have been abandoned and suffer from a variety of illnesses and defects.
Viwe Mposi, 25, works as a cluster mother employed by Acres of Love, a children’s home started in Joburg in 1998 to care for orphaned and abandoned children.
David Potter, operation manager at Acres of Love - The Forever Family Home, said the organisation caters for close to 200 children who have been placed in 28 homes. Twenty-four of the homes are in Joburg, and four are in Cape Town.
About six children are placed in each home and are cared for by the cluster mother - a term which Acres of Love uses to refer to the employed mothers.
Potter said: “We get calls from social workers, get a full medical report and then place the child.”
“Most of the children we have are under three. Many of them have been abandoned and have no family members to take care of them.
“Many of the kids are abandoned in hospitals or in dustbins. We try to replicate the family model - what a normal family with biological children would have.”
Mposi said she was able to raise the seven toddlers, aged between seven months and two, with the support of two assistants, a driver and therapist.
Some of the children in her care need regular therapy sessions and some have special needs.
There are children who are blind, have Charred Stump Syndrome and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, to name a few.
Mposi said four of the children in her care are siblings.
“Raising the children is tough, but I am enjoying it a lot and I am learning how to interact with them. I love them like my own.”
Last year, a 17-week-old girl, who was born weighing 800g, was placed in Mposi’s care.
Potter said the organisation was told she would not survive.
“We were told she would not survive, she had water on the brain and we should not love her,” he said.
The baby later underwent surgery, and was adopted this month.
Mposi said: “I’m still not okay with it. I don’t want to talk about it.”
During the baby’s stay in hospital, Mposi spent nights at her side and grew to love her.
Potter said cluster moms received regular counselling because they grew attached to many of the children they cared for.
“The moms become attached to the children as if they are their own because we don’t know whether they will end up being adopted or not.”
Deon Winterbach, from Herbalife, which sponsors Acres of Love, said the organisation’s story resonated with the company’s ethos.
“It moves me every time I come here and see what is happening.
“The love that is shared and the growth of the children is amazing.”
Cape Argus
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