Baphumelele - People

Firstly, we have our children of course. They are from different backgrounds and upbringing, but largely children from Khayelitsha. They arrive at the home from as young as two days old up to adolescents. All children are placed by social workers or by the police, when in need of a place of safety. There are many heart-rending stories, which make it a wonderful experience to see so many of these children now living a happy and purposeful life. They need love and healthcare and the means to become a useful and independent member of the community.

The immediate community is a driving force. The need for an orphanage became quite strong and they wanted it right there. This means that the children don't grow up in an artificial society but stay close to their roots. The entire remains labeled as a community project for a very good reason!

We now have 22 permanent staff members at Baphumelele who mostly engaged in care giving to the children at the Home, which has a capacity for 106. These staff members (including a groundskeeper and a cleaning and laundry person) receive some compensation in the form of a minimal wage. They receive training to learn to handle everyday situations in the Home, as well as some healthcare training, which is so vitally important when dealing with this many small infants and toddlers. They work in two shifts (soon to be expanded to three), so that caregivers are at the home at all times. They are supervised and trained by our social worker, who in turn reports to Rosie.

The Home was particularly blessed by a sponsorship of a different nature, in that we now have the full time help of a professional couple - from the USA - who are here on a two year stint. (We hope for even longer!) Jeff Brovet is a qualified accountant who has reconstructed our books for the last couple of years, to the point of approval by an auditor, set up our current financial control system, submits detailed quarterly statements for the Department of Social Welfare, makes short and long term financial projections and does all of that on an outdated computer running a Windows 98 operating system!

His wife Erin, who is a qualified marriage and family therapist, has helped develop organizational systems for running the household, as well as coordinating and training all volunteers. Erin also helps screen interested visitors to ensure that these visits are therapeutic for the children. All visitors must make appointments ahead of time please!

The task of guiding the daily affairs of the Home, as well as projecting the future needs, lies with the Management Committee, consisting of Rosie Mashale (Chair), Peter Hugo (Rotary), Kathrin Hoyos, Udo Klotz, Jeff Brovet, Erin Brovet, Wytze Voerman and Ella Khanyile.

The Board of the Baphumelele Waldorf Association (a company not for gain) comprises Rosie Mashale(chair), Isaac Adonis, Agnes Mhlahlo, Maxine Mzoxalo, Peter Hugo (Rotary), Kathrin Hoyos, Udo Klotz

While the above are all local and internal people, there are of course also our volunteers and our visitors:

The Baphumelele Volunteer Program

The purpose of the volunteer program is to organize structured outside assistance to the permanent care-giving staff. We have at present a dedicated team of people who serve that purpose in many beneficial ways. The composition of that group is in a continuous state of flux, as it also involves many young people from overseas who come and help us for short periods of time.

Our permanent staff performs the primary care-giving duties including feeding, changing, dressing, holding, disciplining, etc. The intention is that the children bond with the caregivers as these can offer them love and attachment on an ongoing basis.

When volunteers are available to assist the staff with daily labour (such as bottle making, snack making, tooth brushing, cleaning syringes, preparing vegetables, tutoring, mentoring, coaching, and developmental play for infants and toddlers), the caregivers have more time to cuddle and nurture the children, especially the younger ones.

Volunteers are encouraged to build relationships with the older children (7 and up) who can understand that a volunteer is there for a short time, and needs to return home. Volunteers are not encouraged to build bonds with younger children as the rapid transition of volunteers is unhealthy for the young children.

We train our volunteers to understand the developmental needs of our different aged children. They are expected to comply with our recommendations.

For our international volunteers, we rely on AVIVA (www.aviva.org.za) who recruits and organizes our international volunteers. AVIVA staffs us with six international volunteers at a time who stay on-site with us for anywhere between 6 weeks and 1 year. This group lives on-site at the Home to be able to serve in the more in-depth needs of the Home (three-days shifts at a time). They are housed in town for their "days off" when they can enjoy the sights and take a break from the demands of life at Baphumelele. This group plays an instrumental role in assisting our staff with the daily running of our home. New volunteers are trained every other Tuesday at 10:30

We also have groups of local volunteers that assist us in other ways. Any interested group or person should contact the volunteers coordinator to learn about our current needs for volunteers. We typically need the most assistance in tutoring the older children. In addition, we are looking for nurses and carpenters at all times. Nurses can volunteer as little as half a day a month to help draw the medicine into syringes for the caregivers. All interested volunteers must schedule an orientation session with the volunteer coordinator before beginning their work.

Cluster Home Assistant

We are currently (May 2006) accepting applications from persons interested in serving for one year as a full-time assistant in a cluster home. These assistants will live in a smaller house with the caregiver along with 6-8 of our children. These assistants help care by watching, bathing, tutoring and mentoring the children.

Visitors

We have many caring people who are interested in visiting Baphumelele. However, we must ask our visitors to be sensitive to the privacy of the children and acknowledge the established rules for the daily running of our Home.

The staff is at all times in charge of the children. Picking up babies from their cots, changing nappies, feeding children sweets or giving them money can not be done without consultation with the caregivers. Visitors and volunteers are never permitted to take a child off the premises and out of direct supervision of the caregivers, unless permission is obtained from the social worker.

In addition, taking photographs for use in any sort of publication (including the Internet) is not allowed without the written permission of the Director of Baphumelele. We have to be ultra sensitive toward the privacy of our children and to the use of photos with incorrect or inappropriate captions.

For these reasons we ask that all visitors

make an appointment prior to visiting the home,
announce themselves upon arrival at the office, and
wear a visitors badge at all times while on the premises of the Home.