Song Release: Think Of Me

Raising awareness about the rights of the unborn is something that is really close to my heart. 
Because of my own life experience of losing a child to abortion when I was 14 years old, I am passionate about preventing abortion.

I am so blessed to have had this amazing song written by the fantastic Katie Pappas, an international songwriter who has written music for Christian movies.

Bruce Retief was responsible for bringing this song to life, and I am so grateful to have worked with them.

The music video was produced by Desmond Denton from Imagen Heart productions, and the video is about the story of a woman in an unplanned pregnancy who chooses life for her baby.  
The video ends where she is presented with another option: abortion, after she has seen what could be if she chooses to let her baby live. 

I pray that this song and this music video will help many girls in unplanned pregnancies to choose life for their babies.

Available on Itunes. 

Think Of Me:

My head on your heartbeat
Your arms wrapped around me
I want to feel everything
Everything
The look that's in your eyes as you hold me for the first time
I want to see everything everything

I don't want to be a what or if 
Or almost was
I want the chance to live and to be loved

One moment could
Chance my fate cos
You could take it all from me and keep it a secret
Or you could hold on to faith that it all is gonna turn out alright just give it
A chance and see it through
I'm at the mercy of you
So think of me before you choose

Taking pictures of my first steps
Being there for all the little moments
I want somebody to cherish me
To think of me
It won't always be easy 
But I'm a chance worth taking worth taking 
Worth taking
Worth taking

One moment could
Change my fate cos
You could take it all from me and keep it a secret
Or you could hold on to faith that it all is gonna turn out alright just give it A chance and see it through
I'm at the mercy of you
So think of me before you choose

Project Life 10 Days Of Activism Campaign 
(23 February to 5 March)

Project Life had our first 10 Days Of Activism campaign and what great feedback we have had!

During this time we had a radio advert play out on Radio CCFM 107.5, challenging people to take just 10 minutes out of their day to make themselves, their community and church aware of the organizations and places of safety that can assist women in crisis pregnancy and organizations that support the pro-life, pro-family and pro-adoption movement.

It was also encouraged that people take the time to educate themselves on the process of adoption.

Information on baby safe locations and crisis pregnancy centres was also posted on the Project Life Facebook page so that people could use social media as a tool for awareness during this time.

On the 24th of February I had the great honor of speaking at the Mighty Womens conference and sharing about my own personal journey of why I started Project Life and why I am so passionate about preventing baby abandonment and preventing abortion.
My friend Erica (who is also on the board of Project Life and the web designer of the Project Life website) and I handed out some pamphlets at the conference to raise awareness on the location of the current baby safe boxes.

Handing out pamphlets at The Mighty Womens Conference 

Erica the lovely web designer!

I also met with Cheryllyn Dudley, MP of ACDP about the laws surrounding baby abandonment and third trimester abortion and she gave me some advice on how to go about starting a petition. More details on that to follow and I am looking forward to having her represent the petition in parliament. 


Pamphlets were left at libraries around Cape Town and a local abortion clinic even allowed me to leave a pile of pamphlets at their clinic.





On day 9 of the 10 Days of Activism I spoke at the Goodwood Baptist Church at a Ladies tea. We did hospital outreaches where we had a team of volunteers hand out "mommy and baby packs'' to the mothers in the maternity ward on both Sundays of the 10 Days Of Activism Campaign.

At the Goodwood Baptist Church

We also handed out some pamphlets and posters to the nurses at the hospital to make the nurses aware of the locations of the baby safe boxes as nurses would be able to educate and inform women who may be at risk of abandoning their baby.
 Nurses would be able to look out for signs that make a woman high risk for abandoning her baby- signs like drug abuse, the girl being very young or having no visitors or family during visiting hours, or asking questions about leaving the baby at the hospital. 

We were so excited to find out that Karl Bremmer has agreed to not only put our posters and pamphlets up in the hospital, but have also decided to enlarge the posters we left with them and to then put them up in different wards of the hospital! 

This amazing team of nurses in the maternity ward were so welcoming and supportive of our campaign. 

Nurses at Karl Bremmer Hospital

A huge thank you to the volunteers who volunteered at the hospital outreaches and a huge thank you to everyone who gave donations of nappies, baby clothes, toiletries and blankets for the "mommy baby packs'' that were handed out at the hospital outreaches.

Ladies tea at Goodwood Baptist Church

Hospital outreach

Pastor Louis Claassen and wife at Emmanuel Church

    

Road trip from Cape Town to Knysna

My good friend Theri Rossouw, once a city slicker, chose to leave it all behind for a simpler life. She sold her house in Cape Town and bought a farm in Knysna so that she could give her homeschooled children the slower-paced lifestyle she had in mind.

Her farm has a holiday cottage that she rents out called The Roost. She invited us to come to stay by her for a few days, and because Ashley could not get off work, we decided that I would make the trip with the kids on my own.

Quade is not fond of driving for long periods at a time, so we decided that we would break the trip up and try not to drive for more than 4 hours a day. 

Day 1: Cape Town to Swellendam (via N2)

We left Bellville at 11am and stopped at the Peregrine Farm Stall at the top of the hill.

I grabbed a coffee and a green juice and the children had some lunch and played in the play area. There is a second-hand mobile book store called Burning Books housed inside a 1955 Bedford Green Goddess fire truck at the farm stall and because I am a book worm I was in my element going through the shelves of second-hand books.

                                                 

Kendra bathing Quade in the kitchen in Swellendam.

Then we were back on the road and drove straight through to Swellendam where we stayed in a little place called Moolmanshof BnB. 

We had dinner at The Old Mill Restaurant- very average fish and chips.

The house is on the main road, and the trucks driving past at night made it rather noisy, but other than that it was a sweet little place that did the job of giving us a place to sleep for the night. 

Day 2: Swellendam to Knysna via N2

We left the next morning and had breakfast at Wimpy. We took the N2 all the way through to Knysna. Theri’s farm, The Red Barn, is 10km before Knysna.

We settled and had lunch and then went to a local farm just outside of Knysna called Just Chillin', where we picked our own organic fruit and vegetables. We also got to take part in the dinner feeding ritual. We even got to feed an orphan calf a bottle of milk. The children loved every moment.

Kendra having her hand sucked by a calf on the farm.

Giant organic carrots freshly picked.

Kendra feeding the donkeys carrots for dinner.

Theri's farm and her family survived the Knysna fires the year before, and she took me around town for a drive to show me the damage and devastation caused by the Knysna fires. I was shocked to see how many people lost their homes.

Quade and I at The Knysna Heads.

Day 3: Knysna heads 

We visited The Knysna Heads, and the children loved exploring the area. We explored Knysna and had lunch at the Knysna Waterfront.

Day 4: Knysna to Oudtshoorn, Outshoorn to Barrydale

We left Theri after breakfast and drove via George to Oudtshoorn to visit the Cango Caves. The drive between George and Oudtshoorn is gorgeous, lush, green, and mountainous. 

The children loved the experience, and it was well worth the trip. The drive on this day was far and long and I waited for Quade to sleep before leaving the Cango Caves to drive to Barrydale via Route 62. The road is straight and long between Oudtshoorn and Barrydale, and it was a peaceful, beautiful,and easy drive.

The children at the Cango Caves Oudtshoorn.

We stopped off in the small town of Barrydale where we spent the night in the Karoo Art Hotel.

The Hotel is unique and quirky and there are art pieces for sale on just about every wall.

We had dinner at the Gallery Restaurant in the hotel and the food was amazing. I had a roast vegetable salad and milk tart creme brulee that was perfect in every way.

The children at Karoo Art Hotel.

Quade playing dress up at Karoo Art Hotel.

Dominic playing with his cheesy french toast.

Day 5: Barrydale to Cape Town

We had breakfast at the Karoo Art Hotel and then drove back. There were road works along the way, and that made the trip a lot longer than what it needed to be. But we eventually arrived back home!

Route 62 just outside Barrydale.

I would recommend spending a night at Avalon Springs if traveling to Cape Town from Barrydale to break the trip up. 

We didn't this time around because we missed home, but we have enjoyed our visits to Avalon Springs over the years, especially in the Autumn and Winter months where we enjoyed the warm water on cold days.

Filming day:

Today our day started a little earlier than usual... 

I woke at 2:45am to have my hair and make up ready to meet on set by 3:45am.

I am so honoured to be working with Desmond Denton from Imagen Heart Films for this project as well as other amazingly talented people: Kobus Louw, and actresses Carishma Basday and Barbara Immelman. 

Desmond and I wrote the story line and without wanting to give too much away, the short film aims at raising awareness for women in crisis and offering hope to the vulnerable. 

The short film deals with controversial topics such as abortion and baby abandonment and offers a glimmer of hope when a baby is adopted in the film, instead of being abandoned or aborted.

The footage from this short film will be used for my music video for my new song that is to be released soon. Katie Pappas, an international song writer who has written music for the film industry, wrote this incredible song. 

The song is written from the babys' point of view and the baby is asking for a chance... at life... at love... to see everything and feel everything.

The short film as well as music video will be played at schools, churches and community centres. It will also be available to view on my Youtube channel. 

The short film will be used in future awareness campaigns such as the 10 days of activism that takes place next week where we challenge people to take 10 minutes of their day to raise awareness on their local crisis pregnancy centres and baby safe/grace/drop boxes.

Later this year the short film will be premiered and we hope to see you there! 

40 Days for Life Radio Campaign with CCFM Radio 107.5

Today is officially day 1 of 40 Days for Life 2018 and in case you are not yet aware what 40 Days for Life is... 40 Days for Life is an international prayer movement that started off in a small town in America where a group of Christians who value the sanctity of life got together and decided to commit to praying and fasting for a period of 40 days to try and stop abortions from taking place in their community. Peaceful prayer groups stood outside the abortion clinics and prayed and handed out pro-life literature and raised awareness in the community during that time. The campaign was so successful that it is now active in 741 cities across the world.

It is very important that those taking part in the campaign remain peaceful as this is not an opportunity to aggressively attack those who are in favor of abortion or those entering the clinic who have already made up their minds to go through with their abortion. 
You never know what could happen by greeting someone and starting up a conversation with someone in a crisis pregnancy- so being friendly is of utmost importance!

40 Days for Life is also a time of activism where people are encouraged to step out of their comfort zones and reach out and speak to their communities and Churches about the reality of abortion. 
Pastors and youth pastors are encouraged to raise awareness within the local Church and raise awareness of the locations of the local crisis pregnancy homes and baby safe box locations in the local community so that women in crisis know their options besides abortion. 


This 40 Days for Life, Project Life is having our first 10 Days of Activism that starts next Friday the 23rd of February. We are very excited to have our first awareness campaign and will be doing various methods to raise awareness. 

The last 40 Days for Life campaign 2017 was a huge success and we received so much positive feedback afterwards.  

Baby abandonment is a huge problem in the Western Cape so I contacted CCFM Radio and asked if they would be willing to do a radio campaign over the 40 Days for Life period. They agreed and I made a Youtube video asking people to send their stories in via Whatsapp.
The purpose of the campaign was for people to share positive adoption stories to hopefully prevent baby abandonment and prevent abortion and encourage more people to foster and adopt.

Pro-life is so much more than only defending the unborn- yes that is a major part of it- but pro-life is also being pro-adoption, pro-foster care, protecting children from becoming victims of human trafficking and protecting them from abuse...  

Pro-life means being a voice and speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. It means standing in the gap and taking some sense of responsibility to protects and help these vulnerable little people.  

Each story carried a powerful message and testimonies came in from kangaroo mothers, baby safe havens, parents who were so blessed by adopting children, women who chose life for their babies when in a crisis pregnancy, and stories of women who had been raped who chose to keep their baby. I was so touched by the stories and I hope and pray that listeners were also. 

Thank you so much to each and every one of you who was brave enough to share your story! I am confident that God has used each one to touch someones life out there. 

Introducing: Project Life


In South Africa, one in every four women is physically abused by her intimate partner. 

Every six hours, a woman is killed by her current or former intimate partner.

110 rapes are reported to the police each day but in reality the number is far higher as so many victims do not report their rape to the police.

Each day, 22 babies are abandoned in dangerous places and left to die.


These are some shocking statistics that show that women and children in South Africa are at risk of being raped, abused, or being abandoned at birth, HIV positive, or in a crisis pregnancy.

Women in any one of these crises need to find a support structure, and need to be informed about what their options are, so that they can make healthier choices - choices that are not destructive to their health or to their babies - and to find organizations that can assist them and help them heal from the trauma of the crises of which they find themselves to be victims.

Women need to be made aware of organizations and places of safety that can help them, because women deserve more from life than suffering in silence or suffering alone.

The problem is that - despite the fact that we live in a time when information is at our  fingertips - not all organizations have a website or Facebook page, and not all organizations are well marketed or known by their local community.


Project Life has created a website that we hope will become the "go to" website to which women in crisis can go in order to find the resources that they need.

The website is designed to be a mobile friendly search engine where women will be  able to type in a keyword related to the specific crisis in which they find themselves. The details of the organizations that can assist in that crisis will then be listed and grouped according to each province.

Our aim is that the Project Life website will become a well-known safety net of information to which women in crisis can attain access, however this site will also serve as a helpline to those wanting to adopt. They will be able to find the contacts that they need on the site, in order that  a positive change can be made to the orphan crisis here in South Africa.

Project Life also aims to be more than just an online directory. 

Our goals include: 

-To provide support to women in crisis pregnancy through online crisis pregnancy counselling

-Raising awareness and getting involved in activism to prevent baby abandonment by informing people where existing baby grace boxes are.
(A baby grace box is a box designed for a woman to safely and anonymously abandon her baby by placing the baby in the box.)

-Encouraging more churches and organizations to have a baby grace box put up in their local community.

-Having our own brand of baby grace boxes that will be cost effective and support the local economy and create job opportunities.

-Raising awareness for the adoption cause and encouraging more people to adopt, become foster parents and kangaroo mothers.

-Having "clean up my city" campaigns.  This involves people going into areas where illegal posters advertising third trimester abortions are ripped off lampposts and street lights.  These posters are in turn recycled.  (Up to 60% of babies abandoned are third trimester illegal botched abortions.)

-Encouraging women to make choices that are healthy for both mother and baby. 

-We want to support mothers who choose to keep their babies, by providing them with information of places that can assist them should they need help. 

-Having "Project Mommy and Baby Pack" campaigns where we visit local hospitals and clinics and take women who have just given birth a gift containing some supplies and essentials for the first few weeks of baby's life. A pamphlet listing places and organizations that assist women in the different crises that women are vulnerable to,  will be included in these packs. (eg. rape crisis centres, abuse crisis centres, baby grace box locations, crisis pregnancy centres).

-Having pamphlet drives in government hospitals and rural clinics.


 -A pamphlet design for each province listing the organizations which can help women. 

-These pamphlets will be available for download should someone in another province want to do a pamphlet drive or put up posters in their local community.

-The pamphlets will also be updated as more organizations and baby grace boxes are added to our database.

-Having posters put up in local hospitals, clinics and libraries to educate and inform employees (nurses, hospital staff and librarians) of the locations of the baby grace boxes.

-Having fundraisers for existing NPOs and NGOs who are assisting women in crises and assisting vulnerable orphans and the unborn.

-Various activism campaigns using radio, social media, newspapers, magazines, and television.

-The visiting of local Churches and schools and doing educational talks to raise awareness of the local organizations that can assist, should girls and women need any of the resources.


During the month of February Project Life will be having our first 10 days of activism campaign that will start on the 23rd. I am excited to be sharing at the Mighty Women's Conference on the 24th of February and to share my own story of why I have a heart for women in crisis pregnancy and raise awareness for the cause. The conference starts on the 23rd to the 25th and will be on the Moreson Farm. Tickets available at Computicket.com.

 

Educating and empowering women is very close to my heart as I found myself in a crisis pregnancy when I was only 14 years old and - sadly - decided to abort my baby.

For years I struggled with the guilt and regret of not choosing life for my baby, to the point where I even attempted suicide just to end the pain. That was the night that I became a Christian, and since then, I have become a Gospel musician, speaker, and activist for the rights of the unborn, as well as the rights of the vulnerable orphan. I believe that the Church needs to get more involved in assisting women in crisis pregnancies, and  to not judge or condemn women who are in these situations,. I proclaim fervently that the Church of Christ should be a safe place for the broken and the lost. So many women in the Church have had abortions, and are struggling with feelings of self-condemnation.  I am shocked by how many women come to me after I have spoken at Churches, confessing to me that they have had an abortion, but have never told a soul up until that moment.

If you have had an abortion, know that - if you repent - God is faithful and just to forgive and restore, and there is no sin which is too powerful for the blood of Jesus, and the grace that we find in Him and through Him.   

Last week I also had the great honor of speaking at the Cape Town March for Life and raising awareness for Project Life. I took some pamphlets with me that were spread around- pamphlets that list the existing baby grace box locations in Cape Town.
Please note that these baby boxes are not run by Project Life- they are independently run and Project Life is simply raising awareness of their location.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer or if you are interested in starting a baby grace box in your community please email melissa@projectlife.org.za.

And if you are an organization or any of the following, and want to be listed on our website, please visit our website www.projectlife.org.za

The Project Life website allows for organizations to register themselves so that we can hopefully include all the organizations supporting women and children in these causes.


Organizations who assist with adoptions

Pre and post abortion counselling

Crisis pregnancy centres

Crisis pregnancy helplines

Baby grace boxes/drop boxes/safe boxes


Visit our Facebook page for more updates and if God leads you, please consider supporting us financially, so that we can have more awareness campaigns.

Donations of nappies, sanitary towels, baby toiletries, wet wipes, and baby clothes and blankets would be so appreciated for our Project Mommy Baby packs.

Project Life is an NPC focusing on empowering women in crisis and offering hope to the vulnerable. 


Together we can achieve so much more!