Lowveld - Dec 2019

o B rn
heart
in the
Katy Muller was only 12 years old when, after viewing a documentary
about orphans in Africa, promptly announced to her mother that one day
she was going to go to Africa, adopt those children and care for them.
She couldn’t have foreseen that this declaration would indeed materialise,
leading her to leave her home in the UK and settle with four adopted
children outside White River.
Text: LIndI BOTHA
There is no denying that Katy’s
greatest joy is derived from seeing
kids happy. With two biological
children, Jasmine (11) and Benjamin
(one year and eight months) and
four adopted ones, Yolande (20),
and siblings Anastasia (23), Rafi (26)
and Silvestre (29), Katy could have
adopted schools more had she been
given the chance.
“As a child I watched the TV
programme The Waltons and they
had a big family. I always knew that
was what I wanted and dreamt of
having at least 10 kids of my own
when I was grown up,” she laughs.
The plight of children has been near
to Katy’s heart from a young age, as
she spent her school holidays helping
out at a playgroup her mother ran for
handicapped kids.
Answering a call to service, Katy
studied to be a nurse, specialising
in special needs children. “While
I was studying I saw the news
about the Romanian war and all
the children who had ended up in
orphanages - mostly handicapped.
The government was supposed to
look after them, but they didn’t and
the children were in a terrible state.
People were flocking there to help
and I went as well.
“The orphanage I worked in in
Romania was horrific. The plight of
the lost and forgotten children really
moved me and that’s when I realised
that adoption was the way to go.
That country made me realise how
fortunate I had been growing up and
how much need there was out there
to give back and give children a good
home who didn’t have one. It really
cemented the idea that adoption can
help those in need.”
From Romania Katy moved on to
Brazil and worked with street kids to
try and rehabilitate them. While she
was there, she read about the floods
in Mozambique and the dire state in
which the children in the orphanages
were. “I sobbed my eyes out and just
knew I had to go and help. So I ended
up at an orphanage with around 500
children, with no baby house so all
the children were just wandering
around. I was only supposed to be
there for six weeks to help out, but
as it turned out, I met my children
and ended up staying 17 years,” Katy
states with a smile.
She relates how one little girl stole
her heart. “Anastasia was three years
old and she had the most beautiful
big eyes. Visitors to the orphanage
would come and go, pick her up for
a while and then put her down and
she would be left wandering around
December 2019 Get It Lowveld 37