Grow your own baobab

Baobabs produce a large fruit which are filled with hard kidney-shaped seeds.  These seeds are “nature-designed” to survive harsh conditions and to germinate at exactly the right time so that the young seedling can grow and survive in the wild.  Our job is to crack that code by mimicking the natural conditions that stimulate germination and allow the seedlings to [...] Continue Reading

Do bees pollinate nocturnal baobab flowers?

Pabalelo Phori (MSc candidate) investigates the role of bees and other insects visiting baobab flowers. The buzzing of bees around baobab flowers in the early morning is a common sight and although bees are an important pollinator of many species, do they actually play a role in pollinating baobab flowers?  This is the important question that Pabalelo will be investigating [...] Continue Reading

Kids over the moon with new storybooks in Tshivenda

Tshedza and Zwigodini preschools’ kids were the first to receive their box of Book Dash storybooks. For many of them it is the first time they hear, see and have access to a storybook, let alone one in their very own Tshivenda language! We have divided the first hundred Book dash books, funded by Skoon, into five boxes or mini […] Continue Reading

Dambale Pre-School rising from the dust

Dambale village never had a Pre-School. Now three classrooms and a facility building are rising from the foundations on a piece of land the chief allocated for the toddlers and pre-schoolers of this rural village in Venda. Several indigenous trees, like the beautiful Munee tree or Red Ivory (Berchemia Zeyheri) in the one corner of the yard, are preserved for […] Continue Reading

Dambale Creche Fence Completed

We’re delighted that the fence around the Dambale Preschool was completed this month (September 2020). A big thank you for the generous donation of $1000 from Protec Botanica which contributed towards building the fence.

Mandela Day: Food Donation from Ridgeway Prep School to Mukovha wa Bale Creche

Dr Sarah Venter delivers food donated by Ridgeway Prep School to Mukovha wa Bale Creche Children at Ridgeway Preparatory School responded whole-heartedly to their drive to collect food and donations during Mandela Month. Ridgeway Preparatory Primary School collected boxes of non-perishable food for donation to one of the Pre-Schools which our Baobab Foundation supports: Mukovha wa Bale Creche.  The food […] Continue Reading

Investing in our Future Communities

The Dambale community does not have a pre-school for their 50-70 young children aged 1-6. All they currently have is 2 tiny rooms, no toilets, no kitchen and no resources at all for the children. The Baobab Foundation has decided to support the community by building a new pre-school from the ground up.

Look How We’ve Grown!

The Tshikuyu preschool still needed a kitchen and eating area, swing and climbing frame for the children, a water tank and equipment for the classrooms.

Once again supporters from around the world generously donated to the next phase of the project. Donations were received from Blue Sky Botanicals (United Kingdom), EDUR Foundation (Germany), Mediceuticals (Netherlands), Lather Inc (USA), and NeoTrading (South Africa).

It started with nothing but hope

It’s a reality in South Africa that pre-schools – especially in the deep rural areas – get far less support from government than primary and high schools. And yet research shows that if young children are provided with teaching,  nourishment and stimulation at pre-school age, they are far more likely to break out of the poverty cycle than those who […] Continue Reading