Spreading love is Debbie's calling
"This is my calling, God wants me to finish the race I started," said Debbie Devoy, owner, manager and mother of AAA safe house in Brand Street, Westering.
Every child deserves a chance to have a normal yet fruitful upbringing and the management, staff and volunteers at the AAA safe house exemplify this notion.
Devoy has been helping newborns and infants which have been abused or abandoned, for the past eight years.
She praises the work of her staff and volunteers who help share some of the responsibilities and management of the home but said more help was needed.
The safe house provides a family-orientated caring environment, teaches values and gives access to information.
Devoy, who herself was abandoned by her mother, said she knew what it felt like to be rejected. For that reason they try to reunite mothers with children if possible. They take footprints and photographs of the children to remember them when they leave.
"Society is failing us miserably. We as adults have to take a stand and lend a helping hand," she said.
It costs at least R1500 a month to look after each child. Then there are doctors' bills and chemist accounts.
"There were times when I wanted to give up, then the phone rings with a call to ask 'Can you take one more child', and I knew I had to go on," said Devoy.
Since the erection of the AAA safe house in 2004, many more safe houses in Port Elizabeth have opened their doors, and they work closely together as they exchange ideas and programmes to get the best possible solutions for the children.
The motto the safe house instills is "Love, Lead, Own, Vision and Engage".
To help Devoy help others, call the AAA safe house on (041)360-0125 or 083-6242-462.