Every Thursday, Anya visits Hannah’s Place of Safety, not as the qualified attorney she is, but as a volunteer who leaves feeling moved to the core by the compassion alive in each staff member and the children still choosing life despite all the struggles they have endured.
Mitchell’s Plain, South Africa (28 April 2026) – It’s often said that giving is better than receiving, but when Anya Kurdziel-Audagnotti decided to volunteer for Hannah’s Place of Safety, she never anticipated what she would receive in return.
She goes to the children’s home every Thursday, a place that holds the most extraordinary kind of love and has come to quietly restore her faith in humanity with each visit.
“Inside, there are tiny people. Babies born into circumstances they had no hand in choosing, into a world that began for them in the fog of substances and struggle. And yet — they are here. Breathing. Reaching. Trusting. Their little fingers curl around yours with a grip that says: I am still choosing life,” Anya shares with the charity.
She has been showing up, not as the qualified attorney she is, but just as someone with two hands, a willing heart, and a few hours to give.
“What I didn’t expect was what I would receive in return. The staff I have come to know inside those walls are among the most remarkable human beings I have ever had the privilege of meeting,” Anya says.
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She notes and appreciates how staff change nappies, sing softly, and hold babies through the night and dry their own tears quietly so the little ones never feel the weight of it.
“They do not do this for recognition or reward. They do it because something deep inside them simply will not allow them to look away. There is a particular kind of soul that chooses this work. Gentle. Unshakeable. Pure in a way that the world doesn’t always make space for.”
For Anya, being around these compassionate staff members makes her want to be better, quieter in her judgments, more generous with her presence, and more grateful for what she has.
“Holding a baby who was born fighting…..fighting just to arrive, just to breathe, just to be seen, undoes something in you. The noise of a demanding week, the weight of a difficult case, the exhaustion of a life lived at pace, all of it falls away. What remains is achingly simple….this child is here. This child is loved. And for these few hours, I get to be part of that.”
Every Thursday, Anya leaves Hannah’s Place of Safety fuller than she arrived. As she beautifully puts it:
“That is the quiet miracle of giving – it always gives back more.”
Sources: Hannah’s Place of Safety
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