Baphumelele Children’s Home

In 1999, Rosie Mashale opened her home in Khayelitsha to a few abandoned children from her neighbourhood. By 2005, the number of children that she had under her care had grown to almost 100. Through strong support from her immediate (but destitute) community, effective marketing and international exposure, she has kept this incredible project afloat. She has attracted a strong and capable Board of Trustees which is well placed to manage the responsibilities of a project of this magnitude.

Most of the children have been orphaned or abandoned as a result of the AIDS/HIV pandemic. They range in age from new born to 18 years and the facility is conducted as one big extended family. There is an established exchange of young, foreign medical practitioners and philanthropists who volunteer their time to the project.

The Solstice Foundation is proud to report that funds from the 2005 Ball were used to build a laundry facility at Baphumelele during 2006. Following some initial complications with zoning restrictions concerning the identified site for the new Baphumelele Laundry ‘House’, a new site was chosen and the facility was completed by October 2007. In order to maximize the use of the land, the laundry became the ground floor of a new two-storey building, housing student volunteers above. Solstice increased its allocation from R90 000 to R150 000 and additional funding was sourced from other donors. The laundry is fully operational with a number of donated and bought washing machines and tumble dryers working hard to deal with the clothes and linen of nearly 100 kids.

Rosie’s dream has come true through hard work, a dedicated team of staff and volunteers and an energized fundraising campaign. A fifth cluster home has been completed and the organisation has also developed a hospice facility on its premises for children, teenagers and sub-adults of the community.

Again, Solstice has contributed to ongoing improvements to a valuable community facility that provides a wonderful sanctuary to nearly 100 orphaned and abandoned children and employment to the many members of the local community who work there. A steady stream of volunteers, mostly students from the USA also provide an invaluable service at Baphumelele. From the end of 2013, The Solstice Foundation has committed to donate R10,000 a month, for one year, to Baphumelele for running costs. They experience an ongoing battle with running costs especially with the constant increase in the cost of living.

With several years having passed without us having direct contact with Rosie’s organization, we again arranged a tour of their facilities for some of our new committee at the end of 2018. We found it still thriving under Rosie’s leadership and having grown ever more both in the numbers of children that it sustains as well as, sadly, with a sharp increase in the Hospice needs in their community.
They had managed to raise some funds for the construction of a new Hospice facility on an adjacent plot of land but the construction had been poorly overseen and was found to be substandard. Predictably, the builder had absconded and they were left with only a partially completed facility which did not comply with building regulations or safety standards. They were using the ground floor to maximum capacity but were in dire need of funds to complete the 2nd level and make good on the safety and security of the site as a whole.

We were able to commit the sum of R150 000.00 towards this and it was agreed that they would try to source a local, reliable builder to provide quotes for the completion and then also raise the remainder of funds required as well as accessing the Dept of Health co-funding that they felt they would be entitled to.

We are proud to say that after many years our involvement in the construction of the Baphumelele respite centre has finally culminated in the recent completion of this valuable resource – complete with a new roof.

If you would like to find out more about Baphumelele Children’s Home or make a donation to support a child at Baphumelele, visit their website at www.baphumemelele.org.za