AMONG the rows of cots at a bustling children’s home in Tanzania were three babies bound for Wollongong.
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It was 2010 and four-week-old twins Shay and Charlie were new arrivals at the Forever Angels home, fresh from a two-week stay in hospital.
Their one-year-old brother Jabari arrived with them, skinny from serious malnutrition. But soon all three would thrive.
Cordeaux Heights’ Mark and Anna Dombkins adopted the trio while working as teachers during a 3.5-year visit to the east African nation.
With their biological children Jackson and Jemima, they returned home, had another baby - Max - and settled down to life as parents of six.
“When you’ve had a four-year-old and four one-year-olds in Africa, with an unreliable power and nappies, it doesn't seem so difficult [now],” Mr Dombkins, a teacher at the Illawarra Christian School, told the Mercury.
“They’re all older now, and get on so well.
Next month the couple – with friends from Crown Street cafe Lee and Me – will host an extravagant al fresco banquet aimed at sending vital funds back to the charity that made their family whole.
Part of the Yours and Owls festival in Stuart Park October 2, The Forever Banquet will take place in a mock Tanzanian market place, as diners tuck into tuna ceviche, suckling pig and a watermelon and white wine granita.
Lee and Me has hosted three similar fundraisers in the past, generating more than $50,000 for Forever Angels since the Dombkins’ return to Australia.
For Mrs Dombkins, what the home gave her cannot be forgotten.
“It’s an amazing place. They really do their best to reunify children with their families, and they spend a lot of time putting effort into high-quality care for special needs children.”
The home takes in orphans, as well as children whose parents have relinquished them for health or financial reasons. Much of its work focuses on helping parents set up businesses, so they can afford to look after their children.
The Dombkins went to the home with the intention of adopting a sibling group that would otherwise likely be separated.
Bringing their African-raised brood home has given rise to some culture shock, including first experiences of carpet – “they made snow angels” – and Australian shopping malls.
“It’s sensory overload – so many lights!” Mr Dombkins said.
“There’s no power in an African market.”
