‘Christmas Cheer at Baphumelele Children’s Home’

While people all over the world celebrate Christmas for different reasons and in various ways, the main theme behind this day is families being together, a bit of extravagance  (sometimes more) and a sense of enjoyment of the year that passed.  At Baphumelele Children’s Home the anticipation was exactly the same!  And some miracle workers made it possible for the 65 children that were spending their holidays here to have exactly that!  All dressed up and almost squeaky clean, the anticipation in the air was feverish as the smell of the braai filled our nostrils!  Promise was in the air!  The girls were singing and dancing, expressing their excitement and joy, the boys were helping with the fire, and the little ones, for them time was just passing too slowly!

Dedicated helpers dished up plate upon plate of delicious food, with more than enough for second helpings!  Then more treats followed, cup cakes, ice cream and even a present for each child.  One little boy remarked that he is so happy he could just fall asleep another said he doesn’t think he’d ever be able to eat again!

Sometimes in life it is hard to make a difference, but sometimes we probably don’t realise how big a difference the little contribution we make can go.  Some of us, like Mama Rosie, (I forgot the name of that lovely social worker now) and their team of volunteers dedicated their Christmas to these children, their reward the happy, contended faces of the children.  Others make days and moments like these possible with their contributions.  Like the saying goes, it takes all kinds of people to make the world a happier place.

Thank you Charmaine Beukes, for spending your Christmas day with these children!

On Wednesday morning 02 November I meet with Claus and Christine from City Sightseeing Cape Town outside the aquarium at the V & A Waterfront. As the City Sightseeing buses pulled off to show visitors all the sights of Cape Town we took off in the opposite direction to visit the TCD Trust projects in various disadvantaged areas of Cape Town. City Sightseeing Cape Town is one of our longest standing Friends of the Trust who have continued generously to support the work the TCD Trust does throughout the years. It was a great pleasure and honour to meet Peter and Jill Newman from the UK, Peter is the founder of City Sightseeing franchise.

Our first stop was at Baphumelele in Khayalitcha where we visited abandoned babies who are cared for at the center.Claus was amazed to see how bright and beautiful the nursery is for these children, colourful paintings on the walls of Elephants and animals and each cot equipped with clean and warm blankets. We also visited one of the house mothers who look after a small home which accommodates eight children of different ages. A delicious and warm meal was being prepared in the kitchen by the house mother and a volunteer from Canada read a story to some of the children in their lounge area.A much more noisy greeting meet our visitors at the Educare across the road, screams of delight and laughter rang out from the children who were enjoying a mid-morning snack. The Educare cares for approximately 300 children; this includes children from Baphumelele orphanage as well as children who come from the local community. The TCD Trust continues to support Baphumelele with maintaining the Educare building which was completely renovated by the TCD Trust in 2005.

Rosie’s Soup Kitchen was our second stop on our visit. We received a warm greeting from Rosie who for the past 20 years has provided a bowl of porridge to 200 children on their way to school in the morning. Rosie told us that the children preferred a slice of bread and jam or peanut butter but she knows they need the porridge to keep them strong and healthy. She tells them they can have a slice of bread and jam but they must first eat their porridge. She is a real angel on this earth. Our City Sightseeing guests visited the fully equipped and fitted kitchen which was built for Rosie by the TCD Trust in 2006.

Our final stop was at the new and magnificent library on the grounds of Blomvlei Primary School in Hanover Park. The Headmistress, Dawn Petersen, welcomed our guests with great pride and showed them around the library. Dawn explained that there had been another gang shoot out in the area and an innocent woman bystander was shot and killed. The woman’s body was in full vision on a field across the road from the school, many of the children saw what had happened, and although it was nothing new to them, the level of violence and fighting in the classrooms had escalated dramatically with Dawn having to take two girls from the classroom to hospital. We explained to our visitors how our dream for the library was to give the children a place of safety, learning and inspiration and provide them with the necessary life skills to go beyond their immediate circumstances and find options in life away from drugs and gangs.

Once again we thank City Sightseeing Cape Town from the bottom of our hearts, without your support these projects could not be done or supported by the TCD Trust. You are helping us to bring real, meaningful and long term change to people’s lives, Thank you.

June 21st, a glowing sunny and warm day for an outing…

Come Wednesday June 22, and the rain and cold gusts that seem to have taken the woes of the world were our wake-up alarm for the dawn of a new day. Not a great day for an outing sure but an outing to some of our projects it was – and a fabulous experience for all!

The outing had been organised to enable our Friends of the TCD Trust to visit the projects they has so generously contributed to and meet the amazing people we work with in the disadvantaged areas of our community.

At 10:30, we were all present at Ashanti Lodge, geared up for the weather and keyed up on the idea of visiting our projects. Our first stop was Khayelitcha where we met Rosie Mashale, the fabulous woman behind the Baphumelele Educare Centre where they met and played with some children, followed by a visit to the Baphumelele Respite Centre.

After Baphumelele, we visited charming Rosie in her Soup kitchen in Macassar, where the lingering scent of superb and healthy food truly made us hungry. Always smiling and welcoming, Rosie however shared with us her distress at being unable to cater for as much children and TB patients as she would have liked due to lack of subsidies.

While we were in her kitchen, we even witnessed some people from the community coming and asking if she has any soup left, and her sadness at having to turn them down since the soup was all finished.

Our last stop was Blomvlei Primary School in Hanover Park and the new library the TCD Trust recently opened there. After a brief chat with Dawn Pettersen, school headmistress, our Friends of the Trust had a look at the library and chatted a little bit with pupils.

Too soon, it was time to return to Ashanti Lodge, to the great disappointment of our visitors who all agreed that it was an awesome experience, an incredible eye-opener.

“The kids were so sweet!”

“ I wanted to stay there the whole day!”

“It was a heart-warming experience and I would love to do it again!” were some of our Friends’ comments on the way back.

Indeed, it is truly a heart-warming experience to be with these people. Their sense of dedication and ability to make the most of the little resources they have is undeniably inspiring.

A very big thank you to everyone who was present that day despite the weather! Thank you for your support and it was a real pleasure to meet you all!

The story Mariette was talking about was the Tourism Community Development Trust !
Mariette explained to listeners how the TCD Trust had put action behind their good intentions and teamed up unifying the efforts of players in the tourism industry to bring real and meaningful benefits back to the community at large.

Mariette discussed some of the increadible success stories already achieved through the Trust with the support of our “friends of the Trust”. She also mentioned Blomvlei project and the increadble news that we beging building in January 2010 with this ambitious and wonderous project.

“Creating a variety of secure, sheltered, meaningful and inspirational spaces.”

What is our call to action ?
1. SECURE SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO MAKE THE DREAM COME TRUE.
2. ENCOURAGE ALL MEMBERS OF THE TOURISM INDUSTRY TO JOIN AS FRIENDS OF THE TRUST AND SUPPORT THE GOOD WORK WE DO.
3. GET THE COMMUNITY, PARENTS AND CHILDREN INVOLVED.
4. FINDING PARTNERS AND RESOURCES TO ESTABLISH AN EXTRA MURAL CURRICULUM.

 

A very BIG THANK YOU, once again, from all the Trustees to David Dickson from the UK. David has given another generous donation to the projects supported by the TCD Trust of 5 000 British Pounds, approximately R70 000.00 !

David was in South Africa to cycle in the Argus Cycle Tour ; he has come out on six tours in the last ten years with Di Thomas from Daytrippers. After braving the south easter wind and managing to complete the cycle tour, in one of the most grueling conditions in years, David asked Di if it would be possible to visit some the projects supported by the TCD Trust in Khayelitsha, which he has previously seen and generously donated to in the past.

Our first stop was to Bromvlei Primary School in Hanover Park on the Cape Flats to show David our plans for the new multi-purpose centre to be built at the school. We received a warm and enthusiastic greeting from the school’s headmistress, Dawn Petersen, and we were given a tour of the school and the site for the centre.

After our stop at Bloemvlei Primary School we visited Khayelitsha to see the work that the TCD Trust has done at Baphumelele Educentre and the recently opened Respiste Centre for HIV infected children. David said he was impressed to see how far the center has developed since he visited it two years ago with Di.

The money which David has donated will go towards Blomvlei Primary School multi-purpose centre as well as Baphumele Educare and Respite Center – Thank you David !

With the help of people, such as David, we can once again bring the benefits of tourism to grassroots in South Africa.

I would like to introduce myself to the Friends of the Trust, some of you may already know me as I have been involved in the tourism industry for many years. I was born in Zimbabwe and grew up with a genuine love and passion for Africa which has never left me. I have, as a tour operator, travelled Southern Africa extensively. For the past four years I have worked on a part time basis with a social upliftment project in the townships in Cape Town which has given me great joy and a deep respect for these communities. The project also involved the tourism indusrty and I saw how the project changed many people’s lives from living in a shack to owning a home of their own.

I look forward to working together with the Trustees and the Friends of the Trust to continue the good work which has already been achieved by the TCD Trust and to see the reality of the dream for the new multi purpose centre at Blomvlei Primary School in Hanover Park.

I recently visited Blomvlei Primary School for the first time and met with the head mistress, Dawn Petersen. She proudly showed me around the school and the new sports flieds which were being laid, the first step towards the bigger picture of creating an enviroment for these children that they can be proud of and play in a safe area. We were there on a scorching hot day and the children were having their school assembly out in the school courtyard, Dawn said she could not wait for the day when they will have the centre open and the children won’t have to sit outside.

I hope to meet with many of you as soon as possible and look forward to working together.

Bronwen has been in the tourism industry for over 20 years and has, for the past four years, successfully coordinated projects involving the tourism industry and raising funds to build houses for shack dwellers living in the townships of the Western Cape.

With her passion for the upliftment of grassroute projects in South Africa and a vast knowldge and understanding of the tourism industry, Bronwen will continue to expand our Friends of the Trust and work with our various projects which the Trust supports.

The multi-purpose centre at Blomvlei Primary School in Hanover Park will be the focus of fund raising efforts and ensuring that the project continues to become a reality for this community.

We welcome Bronwen onboard and look forward to working together.

We as Baphumelele Respite Care Centre/ Childrens Home, the Management, the Staff and the Children we would like

• to deeply thank you for the donation of the beautiful car bought for the Respite Care. We would like you to know that
• We are deeply humbled and we highly appreciated everything you all have done for us at Baphumelele and definitely has made a difference to the organization as a whole.

Looking forwards to seeing and hearing from you again soon. May God bless you, your family and colleagues in every area of your work.

All the best

Simphiwe Mabuya

The Woodberry Woodpeckers from Ireland are showing their ongoing commitment and support to the Baphumelele Respite Center. They understand that their great work of building and refurbishing the Center in 2007 was phase 1 of the project. The next phase is to ensure that the new icon in Khayelitsha is sustainable and can provide care in a controlled environment for the sick in years to come.

In November 2007 the Woodberry Woodpeckers donated €12 000 (R116 992-80) to the TCD Trust in support of the newly employed qualified nurse at the Respite Center.

Another fundamental inhibitor to proper service was the lack of transport. Patients need to be transported to and from the hospitals for further treatment, medicines need to be collected at the local clinics and taken to day patients, etc.

Again the Woodberry Woodpeckers, as part of their commitment, purchased a vehicle for the Respite Center with full insurance. In picture you can witness the hand over of the keys to an elated Rosie Mashale by Derek Wallace, one of the founder members of the Woodberry Woodpeckers.

The GM Dealership in Cape Town, Reeds Cape Town will service the vehicle for free until it reach 100 000km’s. We also thank them for their support.