Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Visiting Baphumelele




The day after worlds AIDS day I had the privilege to accompanying Baron and Baroness Kraijenhoff for a meeting with Rosie Mashale, otherwise known as Mama Rosie to Baphumelele.
Rosie is the founder of this very special HOME in the township of Khayelitsha. MKI has very special relationship with Baphumelele and of course with Rosie. It is on the campus of this home that MKI has been given the space and the freedom to create one of our Health Information Centers’.

Baphumelele Waldorf Association is a non profit organisation located in the heart of Khayelitsha, The founder, Rosalia Mashale, a trained primary school teacher, moved from the Eastern Cape in 1989 and was disturbed to see young children going through the rubbish dump in search of food. Together with a group of women from the community, Rosalia began looking after these unsupervised children in the area. After the first week, 36 children had joined their charge. The name given to this project was Baphumelele (pronounced: bah-poo-meh-LAY-lay), a Xhosa word meaning “progress”.
Rosie took her time to show her special guests around and she took her time to show and share with them her new special program “save heaven”. A hi-tech flap with cot, camera and alarm has been unveiled in the bid to save the lives of hundreds of abandoned babies. This flap will allow desperate mothers to place their unwanted babies in a place where they will be safe and cared for

The Baron and Baroness were extraordinary impressed with the humanitarian activities of Rosie. They thanked Rosie not only for her unlimited love for the many orphans, but also for her great support of MKI and this projects in South Africa.

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