The sad story of the children of Abaphumelele. A true story!
What you can experience in South Africa
Evelyn called me in September 2023 and her voice sounded very anxious. Jutta she said something is going on her but I don’t know what. What is it I asked Evelyn She said: “ this social worker Mandisa started to speak bad stuff about me and manipulates the children.”
“So what do you mean?” I asked Evelyn, this woman tries to take over my place and tells the children that she will help them to get back to their parents even I know that the parents, if there are still some, never come out and look after their kids.”
Also the boss of the social department branch in Khaylitsha told Evelyne that the small children cannot live together with the older children and that Evelyne must find another house for the smaller children. Even these children had lived together sice they were born and see Evelyn as her mother
I thought Evelyne was making a joke, Evelyn our director of Abaphumelele and foster mom for 20 years being threatened by a young chick with red fingernails appearing at her place in Letho Park, Khayelitsha the biggest township near Cape Town every morning from 9 am to 4 pm to be the social worker in charge.
I tried to calm Evelyn down by telling her with her experience of nearly 20 years nobody can touch her because she saved so many lives of children without parents who were brought to her because they were found in waste containers, on the beach, under trees etc. etc. So Evelyne can tell unbelievable stories what she has experienced with kids and what these children went through. Some of the children were only 2 days old when they were brought to Evelyn.
Evelyne living once in Soweto with her husband and 3 children to move down to Cape town when she lost her daughter and started to give 36 children a home in her private space.
I will never forget this phone call because I was still in Switzerland for my work and Evelyn called me 2 months before I normally fly back to SA and looking after the whole project Abaphumelele where Rolf Seeliger and I had committed to build tiny houses for the children which Rolf had develop during covid.
I was not taking this whole social worker behaver very serious and I had to learn a hard lesson that I was completely wrong with my estimation.
In the following 2 months till I could fly back to SA I had several phone calls with Evelyne and she became more and more desperate because the social department put such a pressure on her. The house we had build was not accepted by the social department because we had not included toilets and kitchen which were there but in another building. So they started threatening Evelyn and the other care takers to take the kids away at the end of the year 2023. Children who had grown up together for 16 years! For most of them it was their family they were born into. The normal conditions for families and young children are bad in townships and people who came as sponsors to Evelyne”s place always said that this place was in a wonderful, clean tidy the children got enough to eat and loved her mom Evelyne. So before this new social worker lady and her boss and hands on Evelyne”s place because she a applied to be a foster care home with which she would get money from the Social Department, the drama started because they were telling Evelyn from day one on what they did not like and that she had to change this and that. Evelyn did so but they were never content and started to complain things which are never there in a normal place in a township like toilets in the same house where the children sleep which instead of having a separate wash room. We could not get rid of the feeling that the Social Departement did it on purpose and that there was a hidden Agenda which we found out of course after some time. But we never ever had imagined this.
For 20 years the facilities and everything was fine and all of a sudden everything was wrong and the influence of this social worker lady plus her boss became bigger and bigger and my hypothesis was that is was a clash between 3 women over power and also of culture!!
When I came out in November 2022 the situation was getting worse. I met this lady social worker a young chick who had started to manipulate the children by telling them that they should come to her room straight after school. The older children I interviewed some time later feel still embarrassed about this whole situation because they feel guilty not to stand by with Evleyn and believed the nonsense and lies the social worker was telling the children. It went so far that they did not greet their foster mom any more after school and went straight to the room of Mandisa. The children were made believe that this lady can send them home to their real parents which would be never possible because the parents were either dead or drug and alcohol addicts never be able to take care of their own kids. I still did not understand why a social worker including her boss Mrs. Najwa Talliep would do such a thing with a foster home where Evelyn has grown up all these kids even in her private home.
When I first met Evelyn in 2017 via my Rotary Club am Kap in Cape Town to bring Christmas gifts for the 32 children, I just could not believe that one Xosa lady was responsible and grew up 36 kids in her private home.
She managed it with her daughter in law and 2 helpers. Financially she depended on donations. My whole admiration was for this older lady who dedicated her life to so many children and took care of them.
We had a great discussion and we went on so well that I came out to Khayelitsha on my own quite often afterwards. During that time I had my foster daughter Phumla who also lived in a house of the organisation homefromhome but she was very sick and because she was 20 years old the foster home wanted her to leave which did not work out because she already had enormous problems with her kidneys and was hospitalized for many months in hospital. When she came out again for the last time in her life we thought of giving her a home at Evelyns Abaphumelele home of safety because there were already some older youngsters. Phumla turned 21years in 2019 and she spent a lot of time with me. She told me a lot about her whole situation and what was going on with the elder kids at homefromhome because often there was not enough money to take care of 250 children!
Phumla was born with HIV virulent and on top she had a TB when she was 16 years old. This TB affected her kidneys very severely and I think also the strong HIV medication over years was very bad on her kidneys. So Phumla became very depressed and big and had pain because of all the water in her body.
Evelyne was the one who said “yes” at once to take her in with her problems and bad health. But Phumla did not make it and died in July 2019 after several months severe battle in hospital for her health. As a girl from a foster home she was also exposed to medical treatments I think were definitely not good for her and the woman doctor who treated her always failed to talk to us and kept very quiet! I know it because a friend of mine a French doctor who belongs the organisation Doctors without Boarders was able to look more in detail into her file. And he also had a lot of unanswered questions he asked this lady doctor at the Grote Suur hospital but she just cut him off and never answered his questions. So I felt very bad about this situation and had the feeling that something went definitely wrong with Phumlas treatment, nobody wanted to talk about.
Because of this drama which also affected me a lot, it was therefore Evelyn”s and my wish to call the project building tiny houses Ekhaya litha Phumla, the home of Phumla.
The social department never understood our concept to build further homes for the children on a big piece of land we finally could get from the Khayelitsha community for which Evelyn was fighting for together with a lady from the Human Settlement Adelicia Peterson for so 8,5 years.
In 2023 we finally received the deed and Evelynes Abahumelele is now the owner of this piece of land we want to build tiny houses on as soon as we have enough money. To find enough sponsors was always the issue. We will start with always one house and extend the buildings. They will have living space for young adults a so called transition home and workshops were the young people can work in a profession for example like It, carpeting, hairdresser, beauty shop etc etc.
So Evelyne and I had always the same vision, our vision is: to build transition homes but of course keep our small children as well.
In January 2023 the social lady Ms. Mandisa Oliphat came in one day and said to some of the small children they should pack up their stuff they will be taken to some friends for the day. The children believed this woman packed up their stuff and went in a car away. Later 3 of them ran back telling us that they were lied to and in the car they were told they will never go back to Evelyn. Dramatic scenes happened the children were crying and screaming all over and did not want to leave Evelyn”s place and till today they come back when they were close enough in another Foster home. At one stage 3 boys came back because the place they had to go they had to share the bed they did not get enough to eat, the caretakers were smoking and screaming at them and it was even a hole in the roof. So the children had to go to much worse conditions.
I was there during this time and I talked to all three of them 8, 10 and 14 years old boys, sitting in Evelyn”s room completely exhausted and very fearful what was happening to them. I even drove with the kids to their new place and I could see hoe crowed the place was.
The social department send their people in several times once 2 of their social workers with the police and the police threatened the children under and over 14 years!! that they have to leave Evelyn”s premises at once. Of course later they denied this and told the lawyer that this is a normal procedure in this process.
But I interviewed all the older kids who had witnessed the scene and all of them were traumatized from it and described it that young kids were taken by force. Going through all this with the kids I have the impression that the children are shauvelled around like a deck of paying cards. The children”s interest are not really there, the social department pretends to. Its just the interest who get the grands and its all about money. Evelyn is seen only as a foster mother who has no rights but obey what the social department is telling her no matter what ( especially the social workers being out at Evelyn”s place)
In my lawyer and my perspective its a misuse of power in a very dramatic way from social workers who initiated the whole drama. They talked down on Evelyn in a very rude way, screaming at her, bossing her around and telling her even she should take more courses in caring for kids with an experience of 20 years and she even experienced racial discrimination through these ladies. We collected a lot of evidences for that kind of behavior and the older children were always witnesses.
I had no other choice than trying to help Evelyn with a lawyer and paid for him. What I have experienced then is unbelievable. The social department did not give us the permission to get a neutral person in to interview the children or send a psychologist in. They told us through their lawyers that they have done it but they are not neutral and ruined a whole family which I heard is very often the case why foster moms live often in fear and do not speak up because they are afraid to loose their children they take care of. The social department has so many lawyers working for them and their money is endless that a private person like me has no chance to fight them. Even I was able to interview all the kids myself. I did not even had to ask them many questions because what they had experience, was so dramatic that they were happy to tell me all about it. Like all the “secret” gatherings of the children with this lady Mandisa in her room, the whole manipulation and talk to the children of this social worker lady who promised things she never could keep and everybody new. How was this possible? Later I could even interview one of the boys who ran away from another home where they had taken him and he said: “before the small children from Abaphumelele came to this new place with the same social worker in charge Mrs Mandisa Oli. no children were there. He said “I am 15 years old and I observe and I see everything. They think I am stupid and treat me like this but I am not I know the reason for all this behavior is about redirecting money into other homes with social workers they pick. He was even hit by a male social worker in the face because the boy packed up his stuff and wanted to leave because he is over 14 years. He comes now to us as much as he can and only gets back because he does not want to leave his 2 younger brothers on their own in this foster house they took him and his brothers.
On top the 2nd reason which was mentioned from the Social Department to take the small kids away was that Evelyns son is a Sangoma and the Social Department did not allow healing gatherings on the property. But what I have experienced myself was that the son already had moved out in 2022! So Evelyn did everything to get in peace with everyone and the Social Department in the right time.
Evelyn has got 3 grandchidren and they must live now without their father because of the decision of the Social Department.
I was forced together with my lawyer to write all these terrible events down for a court case. Outside of Kahaylithsa when I was telling only a bit of this story ,nobody would believe me!!. Thank God to my excellent lawyer that he also collected evidences including audio tapes of the children speaking to us. We have all the evidences in place so when the children come back one day which they will ask a lot of questions when they are older. We can show them what exactly happened.
At the end the law company wanted me to pay for the whole court case which was at the beginning an amount of 200.000 Rand plus an open end!! What that means for a European doing this you can maybe imagine you are overcharged and ripped off all the time no matter what kind of institution.
Because I am half retired I was not able to do it and had to give up sadly. I needed a whole year myself to write this sad story down because it affected me emotionally a lot! and I did not speak much about it. But its time now that more people know what was happening.
Most dramatic was our beloved girl Angel who was 2 days old when she came to Evelyn and had a great sponsor from Germany who paid for a private English school to get her a good education and that she will be able to study in Europe later ( which the sponsor told me personally) the social Department took Angel away. Interesting was always how Social Department , represented by these 2 Social worker ladies I mentioned before, did their actions. They lied to the girl and told her that she can visit the other sisters and brothers who were already taken for a day and that she will brought back. She must have felt that something is going on because she did not want to go.
When the social worker took Angel 7 years old, she lied to her telling her you are going to visit.” Angel said: its okay I am going to visit but I don’t want to and why do you then take my clothes with you then, Angel asked? the Social worker Nogeni. Nogeni said: I will bring you back.
Evelyn told Angel because Angel was asking again about her clothes and the school uniform : “You go and just remember I love you and you will always be in my heart.”
Then Angel was taken to another place and her mother Evelyne and none of us were never allowed to visit her. Evelyn cannot even call her, nothing.
On top the Social Department send her to a normal Xosa School she cannot even read the language and the sponsor was giving up on her because she also was never informed. That’s how you can ruin a good education for gifted child.
The boy Anethemba 16 years old now has been 14 years during that time just ran away from one of the foster homes they picked for him.
In October the Social Department Mr. de Beer called him for a meeting with him. They told him he has to go back to this home Cross Road and if he does not do so they will take him far away to a place from where he can never visit Evelyn. So they manipulate children into something they don’t want to by threatening them. Evelyn called Mr. de Beer and he said the boy wanted to go back. But we know from the boy himself that he never wanted to do this and he is always coming back sometimes for a whole week. He is over 14 years now and he should be able to decide where he wants to stay. He switches now back and force because his 2 little brothers have to stay at this place Red Road foster home.
We have now December 2024 just the end of the year. I put a complaint about Mrs Olipants behaviour in at the social workers organisation at the beginning of this year 2023, of course there was no reaction and this lady thinks she can get away with this behavior. I sent Mr de Beer a report about this unethical behavior of this social worker but as usual people are not answering because corruption is a big topic here. I also wrote him that it will catch them one day because children get older and they want to know why this happened. My trust is big that the universe will tell them a lesson sooner or later.
But for me it is important to write unjustice stories down and also spread it. This is the only thing I can do and be there for Evelyn and the children as much as I am capable of.
Evelyn is now taking care of 16 young adults Axola and Anathemba they are 18 years now and the Social Department has no influence on them any more.
In the meantime some of the social workers admit the route the Social Department took was not in the favor of the children!!! because they suffered so much. Does something change ? No of course not!!. But we can expect that there will be some good changed for the year 2025 because some people who did a terrible job will leave. And that is even a nice expression for what we have experienced.
In the future Evelyn and I aim to build up a transition home for older children not to get involved with the social department anymore. This is a complete tabu for us! To be able to reach our vision and get a good education for the youngsters who are with us to become responsible adults and the South African society.
We really want to thank all the sponsors to be on our side to pay for the lawyers and stick with us through that dramatic time, especially Emma Grey and Steve with his organisation Buchannan Group and the JuttaOlga Weller Foundation.
Thanks you lets look into a better future for the young adults and also the smaller children.
Dr. Jutta Lenz
