On the 20th of August, my friend Youandi and I flew to Johannesburg for four days to attend the Africa Cares for Life conference.
 

Africa Cares for Life is an umbrella body and support structure for pregnancy centres in South Africa. Africa Cares for Life also offers various development programs to empower pregnancy centres in South Africa.

Each year, ACFL has a conference to refresh, encourage and empower pregnancy centre leaders and volunteers. 

While most pregnancy centres are actual centres in a physical building, there are a few online counselling helplines and organizations that offer online pregnancy help. 

Youandi Gilain from Open Arms SA, and Nina McNeil from 11th Hour are both online pregnancy support counsellors. 

I represent my organization, Project Life, and do most of my pregnancy help and post-abortion counselling on Whatsapp, with the odd person contacting me on Facebook. 

The majority of clients who contact me, contact me for post-abortion counselling, but now and then, I do receive a client seeking pregnancy counselling.

Daniele Gradwell, director of ACFL put together an exceptionally inspiring conference, and world-class speakers shared their stories and passion for assisting girls and women in unplanned pregnancies.

Karla Sutter, Ellen Foell, Grant Edkins, and Lusanda Dhlamini are some of the fantastic influencers that spoke at the conference.

Each day, we had the option of attending wonderfully informative workshops. One of the workshops that particularly stood out to me was Breaking Soul Ties, by Joyce Ray. 
 

I also had the privilege of seeing the movie Unplanned at the conference. The film is powerfully moving, and I have no doubt in my mind that it will change and challenge many hearts on the topic of abortion. I imagine that many lives will be saved because of this movie.

I will be planning a screening for the movie Unplanned in Cape Town towards the end of October, so keep an eye out for the details. 

On the last evening of the conference, Daniele organized a banquet, and we were encouraged to dress up. The theme for the conference was BOLD, so I wore a brightly coloured dress and painted my face like a warrior, symbolic of my passion to boldly fight for what I believe is right.
My heart was so full of joy to be surrounded by people with the same passion, who are on the same mission that I am on. 

I would like to say a special thanks to you to Daniele for putting together an amazingly informative and motivational conference.  
I have been inspired to take bold steps and to keep moving forward. I have been inspired to be courageous.

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!

Hartenbos Aarendsfees Music Festival

I was invited to take part in the Hartenbos Aarendsfees Music Festival over the Easter weekend and how could I possibly refuse? 

Thanks to the amazing band that traveled from Cape Town and also played for Shannah and Andriette de la Harpe, I had the best stage support I could have asked for. 

With Deon Knipe playing bass guitar, Wikis Du Rand and Rudolph Müller on guitar and back up vocals, and Charlton Loff playing the drums, the stage was set!

I had the opportunity to have the stage on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. On Sunday evening I spoke but didn’t sing again.

My EP was available to buy and I also sold some T-Shirts that I had printed. I sold Christian jewelry and all of the t-shirts sold!

Errol Naidoo from Salt and Light did an interview with me for his show and I shared my views on abortion and shared about how I am passionately pro-life after having an abortion when I was 14 years old. 

Errol was kind enough to have his camera crew record a live acoustic version of me singing my song Your Love and I am thankful for the favor.




It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to perform at Hartenbos and is something that I will treasure always to have had this privilege.