Testimonials

Gabi Willis: owner and founder of ID 4 Life

“My daughter was no older than 2 yrs old when my husband and I were at a local mall with our two children. We decided to get a bite to eat and had a nice lunch sitting near the children’s area of the restaurant enabling us to watch our two children playing – as is the norm in most restaurants today.

As our lunch came to an end, we requested the bill and prepared ourselves to eventually make our way home. To give you a brief insight to the set up of the play area: it was an enclosed area surrounded by a plastic fence with a fair amount of traffic passing the area which was situated reasonably close to one the mall’s exits.

The fence – at first glance – seemed pretty “child proof”, if one could call it that. The play area housed a small jungle gym on which smaller children could comfortable play both inside and out. Both our little ones, were thoroughly enjoying the time and as usual were bouncing between the table at which we sat and the play area to grab an occasional bite to eat.

Having called for the bill we settled it and promptly began collecting our things hoping to head straight home to give ourselves a little rest too. One minute Jordan was at the table taking the last sips of her juice and the next she was
nowhere to be seen! Pretty sure that she had slipped back into the play apparatus, I got up to look into the nooks and crannies for her. Calling her seemed futile and we put that down to the fact that she really is a bit of a joker and both our son Joshua and Jordan had protested profusely to our announcement of going home. Joshua eventually popped his head out of the apparatus laughing at us and announced that his sister was not in it with him.

Being only 18 months older I instinctively grabbed hold of him – a little too tightly I might add – as slowly a sense of panic overcame me. Calling to my husband, the fear of the Lord filled my being and he noticed my fear. I started calling louder and louder for Jordan but still no reaction from anywhere around me.

In fact the people walking by simply looked at me as if I had lost all my senses… I just kept squeezing Joshua’s arm tighter and tighter, for the fear of “losing” him too, much to his loud protests that I was in fact hurting him. My husband bounded off towards the entrance and starts searching frantically all around for our precious baby girl! In plain hysteria by now I ran into the restaurant with Joshua in tow, and I grab any staff member and customer in my path, screeching at all I could that my daughter was missing and urging anyone to just come to me and say “calm down ma’am, here she is..”. People were staring at me as if I was absolutely crazed, my poor son dragging behind me protesting in pain as I was holding him so tight.

My husband flew back into the restaurant hoping I had located Jordan, the fear screaming out of his eyes looking at my tear filled eyes questioning me whether I could shed some light onto the situation for him and relieve his intense fear! It felt like an absolute age when a very observant man at an adjacent
restaurant finally came to our rescue. Having noticing our hysteria, he pointing to the second level of the mall, he asked whether we may be searching for a little girl he had seen clambering up the stairs nearby – just add the very nasty factor of total danger to the situation! It must have taken us a good 20 minutes if not more, but it felt like a lifetime!

The most gut wrenching and agonizing 20 minutes of my life!!

When we go out with our children, even though they have been informed of potential dangers and are somewhat older now, I cannot shake my paranoia about losing sight of one of them for even a brief moment, when I need to pay for groceries bought or even just turn to look at something on a shelf nearby...”

This is a scenario, similar to one that I am sure most parents have had the absolute displeasure of experiencing, and the feeling of panic creating confusion is something that leaves you totally helpless. If this has not been something you have ever had to experience, it would not be something to be wished for with any loved one, but one to be avoided at all costs.

The possibility to limit the total helplessness is one we hope to be able to offer…?

Further comments received...

Jane (Benoni) “… the “Mommy I’m Here” child locator has definitely added some peace of mind to our travel arrangements…”

Sarah (Brakpan) “… with my son wearing his ID 4 Life bracelet permanently, I feel far more at ease when he’s out with his friends…”

Peter (Pretoria) “… being diagnosed with Diabetes and having to wear a medical alert bracelet, I wanted a more flexible option… this works well for me and looks great too...”

Wendy (Springs) “… my son won’t go out without his teddy bear locator … it definitely builds his confidence...!”

Trevor (Bedfordview) “… I now know I will never forget my personal info when I’m out on my bike … such a novel yet necessary item permanently attached to my helmet…"

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