Baphumelele

Caring for the Community

Qui sommes-nous

Baphumelele Educare Centre was founded in 1989. Baphumelele (pronounced: ba-poo-meh-leh-leh), a Xhosa word meaning "ou have progressed".

The vision of Baphumelele is to provide a temporary shelter for vulnerable/orphaned children and young adults with chronic diseases and HIV/Aids, and to provide skills development for the unemployed, early childhood care, alleviation of poverty, and healthcare information to the community in Khayelitsha and surroundings, so that the lives of everyone we touch can become more productive and accepted individuals who make a difference within society.

Projects:
• Children´s Home: The children´s home now provides these orphans and vulnerable children with a stable, loving, and permanent home. It also serves as a place of safety for children in crisis 24 hours a day. Children are sometimes brought to Baphumelele by police or social services as a temporary place of refuge, others have been in Baphumelele´s care for some years.
• Fountain of Hope: Fountain of Hope provides a platform for youth that are not in formal education, employment, or training to learn the necessary skills to contribute to society economically and socially and to allow those youth still in high school to finish their education.
• Child Headed Households: The Child Headed Homes project aims to support these children through mentorship and direct intervention. By keeping the siblings together in a community that they know, they are then able to stabilize and to develop together as a family. Support is prioritized into five key areas – food parcels, education & work experience, emotional & psycho-social support, healthcare, and legal assistance
• Educare Centre & Grade R: Baphumelele Educare Centre & Grade R offers a holistic care facility for the children of Khayelitsha and its surroundings. Our facility cares for children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years by providing a daycare centre that serves to nurture the full potential of each learner while also developing a life-long learner who is confident, independent, literate, numerate, multi-skilled, and compassionate, with respect for the environment and the ability to participate in society as a capable and active citizen.
• Clemens (Child Respite Centre): This Centre offers short-term respite care for children suffering from HIV/Aids, TB and other chronic diseases. Clemons also cares for their educational, psychological, and emotional needs in our facility which offers a clinic and treatment room as well as a play area which allows the children to live as normally as possible while they battle their illness.
• Bonita (Adult Respite Centre): "Bonita" is Baphumelele´s Respite Care Centre; an effective operation working as a 16 bedded, intermediate facility for adults with HIV/Aids, TB and other chronic illnesses. Our multi-disciplined team includes care-workers, professional nurses, a social worker auxiliary, doctors, and an administrative team who provide comprehensive and superior care/service to both individuals and groups of patients within the centre.
• Hospice in the Home: Our Hospice in the Home project was set up as an outreach program attached to the Respite Care Centre. Each day a team made up of a senior nurse and 3 carers walk through the poorest neighbourhoods offering medical support and attention to those who are house-bound.

Tammy Van Der Horst is the Finance Manager of Baphumelele.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.