Help Just In Time Baby Sanctuary to build Roodepoort’s first baby box

Just In Time Baby Sanctuary is a non-profit organisation that provides a loving, caring home for children in need of foster care or temporary safety. The NPO has recently embarked on a new adventure, moving from Randfontein to Discovery in hopes of filling the need for child care in the area, specifically, providing Roodepoort with its first baby box.

Founded in 2016 by Georgina Caetano, Just In Time currently homes eight adorable children between the ages of one and five years old. They have just moved to their new home and are still getting set up, so they are asking for the community’s help with a few things that they need.

Also read: Just In Time Baby Sanctuary finds a new home in Roodepoort

There are five children at the sanctuary who need to be enrolled into a nursery school, so Just In Time is pleading with any willing schools or community members to help sponsor the fees to educate the toddlers.

Georgina is also pleading for help with building Roodepoort’s first baby box. The baby box will be completely anonymous; no questions asked. As soon as a baby is put inside, an alarm will sound in the house as well as at the offices of emergency services and a security company.
One of the carers in the house will fetch the baby and take him or her to the separate cottage on the property dedicated specifically to the babies, known as Ikhaya Lami, which means ‘My Home’ in Zulu. There, they will wait for emergency services to arrive and assess the baby to determine any health needs. The alarm sounding at the security company is strictly precautionary and the officers will come out purely to ensure there is no danger.

The box will need to meet the following specifications:
• An alarm system to notify the house of when a baby has been put inside the box
• A heating pad
• A tiny camera that focuses only on the baby. “The mother needs to be able to put the baby in without fear that she is being seen. This is completely anonymous,” Georgina said
• Two doors, one for the mother to put the baby in and one on the opposite side for the baby to be taken out. The doors need to be set up so that if one door is open, the other one is locked. Once the mother puts her baby in the box, it needs to lock on the exposed side. “So if she changes her mind, she will need to make contact with us to get her baby back.”

While they love the area, a scamster has not given them the warmest of welcomes. A few days after they unpacked, a woman pretending to be from the Department of Social Development scammed the sanctuary out of their business phone and laptop. There is a small phone that the sanctuary can use as a home phone, but they are asking for help from the community to purchase a new laptop.

“Our priorities at the moment are education and the baby box,” said Georgina. Apart from the laptop, there are a few things that the sanctuary is also hoping to do, and if there are any community members or corporate sponsors that are willing to help, they would be extremely grateful.

These bigger needs for their future plans include:
• Help to get a Hyundai H-1 to transport all the children
• Help to level the ground outside of Ikhaya Lami, as well as fake grass for the baby play area
• A storage container or Wendy house for storage

If you are able to help Just In Time with any of their needs, please contact Georgina on 062 045 8219 or by emailing info@justintime.org.za.