Nineteen women and their families gathered at Ballantyne Park, Harare, Zimbabwe,
on October's first Sunday for a unique kind of photo shoot.
This was to honour their angels, rainbows, & sunshines.Â
Each of these ladies have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth,âor other forms of child loss.
A child lost is often referred to as an angel baby.
"A loss due to miscarriage, stillbirth or lost in the days, weeks, months or years after childbirth." - (quote taken from Tina-talks.)
A rainbow baby is one born after an angel baby. Just as a rainbow baby represents the hope after a storm, a sunshine baby represents the calm before - a child born before the loss, and offers love and support throughout.Â
A few months ago, I was approached by Candiss Diamondis, an amazing woman with her own story of loss - she had seen a collection of photographs from a similar event (in the States) where moms of angels dress in various colours and arrange themselves in the order of the spectrum to resemble a rainbow, and she thought we should have our own get-together and photo session here in Zimbabwe.
Candiss put up a post on "Zimvine", Zimbabwe's own FAQ on Facebook, to broach the idea with our local community
and invite those with similar experiences and their families to join. So many ladies made contact and wanted to be involved - so many moving stories and journeys were shared on the Whatsapp group that was formed.Â
Picking out the right date to suit the majority of families was a challenge. Though many were not able to join us on the decided date for various reasons, they were there with us in our thoughts, too. My mom (my creative director, *wink*) and I met with Candiss at Ballantyne Park to have a look and discuss how the day would unfold - we agreed it would be the perfect venue!Â
I have family members and friends who have gone on this journey; this is a topic very close to my heart. What an honour it is to capture such a special event, to meet these strong women, and to help send out a powerful, emotion-charged message to help raise awareness to the many other women in Zimbabwe (and the world) with the same sadness in their hearts - "you are not alone".
Special thanks go to Ballantyne Park for the use of your wonderful area and playground facilities, to each of the ladies and families that dressed in your beautiful colours and made this event so magical, and of course to Candiss for organizing everything, getting the ball rolling, bringing everyone together and just being you!ââ
Thank you Candiss, this day would not have come together without you.Â
Words from the ladies...
An angel wrote in the book of life
My babies' dates of birth,
Then whispered
As she closed the book,
'Too beautiful for Earth.'
Dana - 20/12/2013
Carter - 24/11/2014
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- Lee-Ann (wearing orange)
"In August 2017, our second son James was born by routine cesarean, after a seemingly healthy pregnancy. Straight away he showed signs of low oxygen, and nine short, traumatic hours later, he passed away. Our entire world collapsed around us. No one can describe the feeling of losing your child. The feeling of holding his perfect, but still body in my arms and knowing I would never feel his warm breath against my cheek, or see him smile or hear him laugh.Â
We live with the pain every single day, itâs a pain that never leaves you, you just learn to live along side it, and rebuild your life around it. My husband and I have survived this ordeal because of the people around us. Because of our 4 year old son and our now one year old baby, who was born a year into the storm. Because of our love for each other. Because of our parents. Because of our siblings, and our friends who have become family. Because of the other moms who KNOW. And because I feel his presence with me with every breath I take.
Thank you so much to Megan for doing this shoot for us, and for her gentle care with our grieving hearts.Â
We need to bring awareness to this. SO MANY women are drowning in pain, and we need to support them, and each other. And if you are one of those women, look at these beautiful bright colours and believe me when I tell you that YOU CAN SURVIVE THIS. The pain will never leave you, but it will become easier to breathe, and the sun will shine again. Your world is forever changed, but colour can still fill your world. And most importantly, you are not alone."
- Candiss (wearing blue)
"Clint & I got married in 2004 and we wanted to start a family straight away, my whole life I just dreamed of being a mommy. I wanted to have 10 kids. ? Anyway, after a year of trying (I know in the big scheme of things it's not a long time but when it's something you really want, it's a long time!), I was so hopeful every month and nothing, nothing, nothing. Eventually we decided to go see a "clued up" doctor who told us after a few tests that it didn't look very hopeful for us to ever have kids, he said our chances were like 1 in 6 million... I was upset with the diagnosis but held onto the hope of that 1 in 6 million... 15-20 days later I was pregnant!!!! Remember that 1 in 6 million... my twins are that 1 in 6 million. We knew before we went for the first scan that it was twins- we just absolutely knew. 2 healthy beautiful twin girls were born at 38 weeks and a day! Our little miracles... 1 in 6 million! 3 years later we welcomed another little beautiful, healthy, baby girl. We felt our family wasn't quite complete yet, but life was also hectic with 3 kiddies... I then fell pregnant again, this time with a little boy. The big sisters came to 3 of the scans, they got to see their brother and hear his heartbeat, they were ecstatic ~ we all were. 20 week scan all was good, and then at 23 weeks our little Declan Jake was gone... those 3 words, "there's no heartbeat" ... words no one ever wants to hear! We left the hospital empty handed, the girls were so upset, no baby brother to love and hold- in a single moment our lives were completely turned upside down and our hearts were shattered! I had to be strong, I had 3 children who relied on me, a husband who needed me to be strong! 6 months went by and we tried again, I fell pregnant again and at 17 weeks we nearly lost our second little boy due to blood clots on the placenta... 3 months of strict bed rest and daily injections & a fabulous gynecologist and loads of prayers we welcomed our rainbow baby, Luke Jessè! Our family is now complete and I would like to encourage every single person reading this, "don't give up hope, keep believing and keep praying - don't believe what the doctors tell you!"
â- Romy (wearing green)
"Being a mom was something I was always told not to do. Doctors kept telling me it wouldnât be possible and it would be better for me not to try...
I am a mom of 4 beautiful angels and 1 my precious rainbow baby now...
When u lose a child itâs easy for people to tell you that itâs ok and youâll be fine and you can have another one, but they donât realize how badly you wanted that one that you lost..!!
Sadly for me, because of my many conditions that I suffer from, having a child was always out of the question.
Before my daughter now I lost my other beautiful daughter... she came really early and although doctors couldnât do anything for her I got to see her and watch her before she left us... being in the medical field one would think Iâm ok with death because it comes so often for me but when itâs your own and you have no control over whatâs happening thatâs a different type of fear and sadness that settles in...
*you know that place between sleep and awake, the place you can still remember dreaming? Thatâs where Iâll always love you, thatâs where Iâll be waiting *⤠Peter Pan!
A mother is not defined by the number of children you see, but by the love that she holdâs on her heart!
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Thank you so much for the opportunity and for all the special moments shared on this day. ⤠Beautiful pics."
- Charley (wearing pink)
"There was a heartbeat and we were ecstatic
and then at the next scan, there wasnât.Â
It was âjustâ a miscarriage,
we were âluckyâ it was relatively early.Â
It was absolutely, breathtakingly devastating to me. It is hard to explain how much that baby was loved already.Â
Until then, I never realized just how many women (and families) around me had experienced their own losses.
I hope this shoot goes someway to recognizing that, prompting the taboo conversations and helping people feel less alone."
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- (writer's name kept discreet)