More about Baby Elba

Brooke and Elba in front of 

Johannesburg General Hospital

Well...what we know about Baby Elba's birth family is not very much. Here is what we know:-

Elba was born on 13 March 2001 at Johannesburg General Hospital. Her mother's name is listed as Rebonyagetse Khomotsego. We understand from friends in South Africa that, based on the name, Elba is probably from the Tswana tribal group.

At birth, Elba weighed 6.3 pounds and was about 20 inches long. She was very healthy. Elba's birthmother left the hospital shortly after having given birth and told the staff that she was going to the nearby shop and would return soon. Unfortunately she never came back. 

We do not know the circumstances of the birth mother's decision to leave Elba in the care of the hospital but we do know that she must have had tremendous courage to do so. In South Africa, families are often unable to care for children for a variety of reasons (AIDS, poverty, etc). It is illegal to abandon a child and many birthmothers do not know about (or are afraid of) approaching the government authorities about adoption. That is why so many babies in South Africa are left in dustbins, railway stations and by the side of the road. For Elba's birth mother to have gone to the hospital and to have given birth to Elba and then to walk away would have taken a lot of courage and we will always take solace in that small fact about Elba's birthmother.

Shortly after her birth, Elba was moved to the TLC orphanage in Eikenhof (very close to Johannesburg) where the workers there named her Harmony. Elba received lots of love and attention at TLC where she lived for the first 7 months of her life. We have been fortunate enough to be in e mail contact with the Jarvis family who run TLC and we invite you to see their website at http://www.tlc.org.za to meet them and read more about the wonderful (and much needed) work they are doing in South Africa.

We are also grateful to Billie Nieuwenhuys and her family who loved and cared for Elba during her first few months. We credit the Nieuwenhuys family for Elba's smooth adjustment to family life and will always be grateful to them for the love they have endowed to our little daughter.

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