Baphumelele Children's Home gets Mandela wall

Colour is vital to our everyday existence, more so for the children and young adults of the Baphumelele Children’s Home in Khayelitsha which is why Seeff’s Atlantic Seaboard, Waterfront and City Bowl team decided to team up to paint the walls of the home with colour for Mandela Day.

Seeff partnered with Co-Active, an NGO which offers experiences aimed at uplifting and inspiring youth in and around Cape Town. The mural was painted by professional mural artists, Serge and Claire from Care One Love who are responsible for many murals around the city such as the sea-life at St James Beach.

The brightly coloured mural was unveiled on Thursday afternoon, the 18th July by the Seeff team and partners involved in the project. Goodie bags sponsored by STBB Attorneys were also handed out to all 120 children.

Baphumelele was established in 1989 by Rosalia Mashale “Mama Rosie”, a trained primary school teacher from the Eastern Cape when she moved to Khayelitsha and was disturbed by seeing young children searching for food at the rubbish dump during the day when their parents were at work or searching for work. She started taking children into her home and together with a group of local women began looking after unsupervised children.

The project was named Baphumelele (pronounced: ba-poo-meh-leh-leh), a Xhosa word meaning “you have progressed” and soon grew from these humble beginnings into an Educare Centre with a community crèche and Grade R (preschool) which cares for around 250 children aged three months to six years. Rosie also founded the Baphumelele Children’s Home as a place of safety and temporary shelter for vulnerable/orphaned children and young adults with chronic diseases and HIV/Aids. Baphumelele also provides skills development for the unemployed, early childhood care, alleviation of poverty, and healthcare information to the community in Khayelitsha and surroundings, touching lives to become more productive and accepted individuals who make a difference within society.

Ross Levin, managing director for Seeff says that Baphumelela is always in need of paint and maintenance and the Seeff team used their Mandela Day to become involved in a project which they hope would inspire change. While brightening up the day of the youngsters and staff of Baphumelele, it also provided the opportunity for Seeff’s agents and staff to reflect with gratitude and compassion on their ability and responsibility to affect change.

Mr Levin says they hope that this will inspire other corporates and service providers to become involved with Baphumelela. You can find them at http://baphumelele.org.za.

For more information about the important work of Co-Active, visit http://coactive.org.za and for more about Care One Love, visit their Instagram page at careonelove.

Issued by Atlantic Seaboard, Waterfront and City Bowl, telephone 021 434 9175.

Photograph enclosed: The Mandela mural at the Baphumelele Children’s Home in Khayelitsha