Gqeberha mom-to-be, Teneal Abrahams is glowing for more reasons than one as she celebrates a successful group baby shower.
Abrahams who is pregnant with her rainbow baby (baby after miscarriage or child loss) wanted to do something special for her community and came up with the idea of a joint baby shower.
“I had a dream and I kept seeing this vision of 10 women being together but these women were pregnant. I knew that I didn’t have much support besides my husband, gran, mom and sister as I didn’t have many friends. Because I dreamt about a baby shower for so long I thought of how other moms feel who are completely alone and haven’t ever experienced this. I knew that I had to give up that day because that was what God knew I needed to do,” she said.
With the full support of her husband Lee Abrahams who ended up playing MC at the event, she set out to find the moms from her dream.
“I originally did a post on Facebook and the response was so great, I had thousands of shares and with that, we had people that nominated mommies. We received over 300 nominations and shortlisted them by a certain criteria,” she said adding that she gave preference to Nelson Mandela Bay moms who were single or unemployed with little to no support.
The event was a roaring success: “Wow it’s beyond what we can describe. It was such a success, not only that but a sisterhood was created, and a support system was established for women who didn’t have any support. It was such a beautiful day we shared tears, laughter, joy and so much love. We also received so many requests to do this annually”.
The event was put together with the help of various local businesses.
“ The planning entailed getting a venue to accommodate a baby shower not only for 1 but 10 moms, the Yacht club was so amazingly supportive that they got onboard as sponsors.
“We bought gifts for all ten moms, ran through the shops with 3 to 6 trollies, got the girls to the baby shower and home, making sure that their nails, hair and makeup were done, kept in touch with all the mommies, getting their preferences and choices for items, the dietary requirements.
“ It took a lot of our own money, time and effort. If it wasn’t for our sponsors like Lanvia Entertainment who sponsored the sound and lights, Pokenosh Partytjies who sponsored the decor, Custom Corner, Polished by Naisha, Candy Coated Caterers, HairstylesbySassy, Christina Goosen, Diona Davids Fillis, MJ Julies, Rhomila Munishka Olivier, Chantell Peterson, Charne Armoed, Amber Fredericks, Robert Muller, Robyn Gallant, Lezanne Michelle Korkie, Nondi Ruiters, Jamie-Lee Newton, Nelson Mandela Bay Yacht Club, Lee-anne Crouse, Nicolene Swart, Bianca Baartman, Jenice September we would not have been able to pull this off,” she said.
The event video went viral on social media but Abrahams insists that the likes she was doing this for came from a way more personal source.
“This was so important to me because I was raised by a single mom and gran and to be able to pay it forward and help other single moms is the greatest gift ever. My son will know that his mom paved the way for other women. I want him to be proud to be the fruit of my womb. This was something that needed to be done otherwise I would never have been able to sleep without this dream being fulfilled.”
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