Dear Mary,
I have read the Newsletter with so much interest and to my surprise so many of those children I know them and can vouch for them. They deserve the support from CAAP.
Keep up the good work for helping these poverty stricken children.
All the best,
Rosie Mashale

Rosie Mashale is founder and managing director of Baphumele, a South African organization that provides various levels of care for more than 5,000 children desperately in need. Mashale’s efforts have won her recognition, such as being on CNN’s Top 10 Heroes of 2017 list. In 1989, Rosalia Mashale “Mama Rosie” to those around her, a trained primary school teacher, moved from the Eastern Cape to Khayelitsha in the Western Cape Province. Rosie was disturbed to see young children going through the rubbish dump in search for food while their parents were away during the day, either at work or in search of work. She responded by taking children into her home, and together with a group of women from the community, began looking after these unsupervised children. After the first week, 36 children had joined their charge.

The name given to this project was Baphumelele (pronounced: ba-poo-meh-leh-leh), a Xhosa word meaning “you have progressed”. From these humble beginnings Baphumelele Educare Centre was founded. While the Educare Centre had developed a reputation for looking after children, Rosie also felt a calling to reach out to orphaned children in the community. To that end, Baphumelele Children’s Home was created as a place of safety for abandoned, abused, neglected or orphaned children, many of whom have been affected by the HIV/Aids pandemic or have HIV/AIDS.
Mama Rosie is a visionary paradigm-shifter whose leadership and vision continue to grow and shape Baphumelele today. In 2013 she was recognized as the South African Woman of the year. Rosie Mashale’s Baphumelele was visited by world renowned men and women, such as Nobel Peace Prize recipients Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Note: Rosie and I have been dear friends for 15 years and she is a trustee on our South African Trust. The CAAP Art School was located at Baphumele Children’s Home from 2005-2016. -Mary