After experiencing five miscarriages, Diona Fillis and her husband, Isaac, continued to believe that God had a greater purpose for their lives, and it is with this belief that they established their own foster home in Arcadia, Gqeberha, where they currently take care of 12 children.
Fillis had a successful pregnancy and was blessed to welcome a baby girl, now 30 years old, with her husband.
After their daughter’s birth she experienced five miscarriages.
Despite the hardship they faced, the couple still had a desire to help foster children in need, and 14 years ago they got their first request, when Isaac’s aunty passed away and they were asked to take care of his cousin who was seven years old at the time, and the young boy’s father was unable to look after him since he was bedridden.
Fillis said they stepped in as parents of Isaac’s cousin, who is 21 years old today and has a beautiful three-month-old boy of his own.
“We believe that fostering was, and is, God’s plan for us,” said Fillis.
While raising their foster son she said that they opened a day care centre in 2015 in Arcadia, but quickly realised the need for a foster home in the area.
She said she was only able to run the day care centre for two years while she completed her Early Childhood Development higher certificate in 2016, but decided to close the centre since she wanted to focus solely on offering foster services.
Fillis said that they then opened their home for foster children and officially registered their foster services, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Care Home.
They currently have 12 children staying with them, six of whom are children from their own families.
“We decided to take on this journey after losing five unborn children and then raising our first foster child as our own,” said Fillis.
She said that it has been vital for them to create a safe environment for their foster children, where she encourages them to stay until they are able to “stand on their own two feet”.
“We do not operate as a general foster home where children are required to leave the centre when they are 18.
“We are one big family and believe that they can stay until they can be independent and are ready to be on their own.”
To further expand their services to help more people in the community, she said that in 2019 she began promoting the centre’s baby safe through various platforms such as Facebook, by placing flyers around the neighbourhood and by word of mouth to encourage people to place their babies in the baby safe box anonymously.
Unfortunately, she said that the baby safe was never used, because it was vandalised and is currently not operating.
Despite their baby safe box not operating, she said that she still encourages people to knock on their door if they need assistance or guidance.
“Even though a baby was never placed in the baby safe before, I still talk to people and tell them about the purpose of the baby safe and where they can go to if they need help,” said Fillis.
“It is sad that babies get dumped every day and there are institutions that can help.”
She said that they are hoping to receive assistance to repair their kitchen floor, kitchen cupboards and revamp the children’s bedrooms.
For more information about the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Care Home, contact Diona Fillis on 081 215 5296.
