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