Msizi Africa

Msizi Africa is an international charitable organisation set up by Lucy Caslon in 2007. Msizi means 'helper' in Zulu. The charity, based in South London and originally named Mants'ase Children's Home UK, is registered with the UK Charity commission[3] and provides children in Lesotho with nutritious food. Msizi Africa actively supports and closely works with a number of local projects and collaborates with Letsema, a network of service providers working with orphans and vulnerable children in Lesotho.[4] Since October 2015, Msizi Africa Lesotho has been registered as a Lesotho registered charitable organisation.[1]

Msizi Africa
Founded6 June 2007 (2007-06-06)
FounderLucy Elizabeth Caslon
TypeUK registered charity
Registration no.1119525
FocusMsizi Africa gives children in Lesotho access to nutritious food.
Location
  • 19 Kirkstall Road, London SW2 4HD, UK
Coordinates51.442897°N 0.127915°W / 51.442897; -0.127915
Area served
Lesotho
ProductNutrition, Health
Key people
Trustees (UK volunteers): Lucy Herron (nee Caslon) (Founding Trustee), Christopher Roberts (Treasurer), Nick Wood, Daphne Kasambala, Jennifer Piper
Msizi Africa Lesotho:[1] Mochesane Mosoloane (Country Director)[2]
Employees
1
Websitewww.msiziafrica.org.uk
Formerly called
Mants'ase Children's Home UK

History

Lucy Caslon first heard about Mants'ase Children's Home, an orphanage in Lesotho, in news reports of Prince Harry's visit to the home.[5] At the end of an extensive trip through Africa in 2006 she decided to work at the orphanage as a volunteer. During this time she recognized that while the children in the home were fed, the food was not optimal in terms of nutrition and healthiness especially taking into consideration that many of the 50 children living in the home suffered from HIV/AIDS infection and other health issues. She received financial help from family and friends back in the UK which allowed her to buy fruit, vegetables, meat and fish to complement the children's normal diet of maize meals and cabbage.[6] Realizing the positive effects of this healthier nutrition on the children's wellbeing Lucy Caslon founded the Mants'ase Children's Home UK charity after she arrived back in London. It was first set up specifically to benefit the lives of the children at the Mants'ase orphanage. Later the charity was re-branded as Msizi Africa as the support was extended to children in South Africa and Zambia.

Msizi Africa grew significantly after Lucy Caslon became one of eight winners of Vodafones 2008's World of Difference programme[7] which allowed her to work full-time for her charity.[8] Impressed by her success one of her corporate supporters decided to match Vodafone's scheme and continue to pay her salary for 2010 and 2011[9] enabling the charity in the following years to help to relieve the hardship of around thousand children in Africa, where the AIDS pandemic has left many without parents or an extended family. Besides providing food Msizi Africa also repairs the houses of children who live on their own to ensure safer living conditions for them.[9]

In 2008 the Cape Town charity Beautiful Gate had to care for additional several hundred mothers with babies and young children due to the xenophobic attacks aimed towards foreign nationals living in South Africa which erupted in May and June of that year. Msizi Africa donated funds to feed these families for several days.

Msizi Africa has in the past also supported Umthombo, a non-profit organisation based in Durban, South Africa, by providing three meals a day for hundreds of homeless children in the city.[10]

Founder

Lucy Caslon attended the Christ's Hospital school from 1992 to 1999[11] and started organising fundraising events as a student. After graduating from Royal Holloway, University of London in 2003 with a BA in History she worked in the charity sector for three years, first in the events team at Marie Curie Cancer Care and eighteen months later as corporate fundraiser with FSID.

Lucy Caslon waiting to receive the Olympic flame (Photo: helejo)

In 2006 she spent three months traveling East, Central and Southern Africa before volunteering for four months, from August to December, at the Mants'ase Children's Home. After her return to London in 2007 she founded a charity in order to raise money to continue the food improvement project she had started during her time in Lesotho. She spend her evenings and weekends to raise funds while working full-time for eighteen months as Team Secretary EMEA Hospitality for DTZ.

Besides winning 2008 the World of Difference initiative of the Vodafone Foundation[12][13] she was shortlisted for the Red and Cosmopolitan magazine 'Woman of the Year' awards in the same year. In 2011 Lucy Caslon was shortlisted for the Dods and Scottish Widows 'Women in Public Life Awards' in the category "Voluntary Sector Achiever of the Year".[14]

Lucy Caslon shares her experiences to help other prospective founders by giving talks like for the Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs[9] or as speaker at the Institute of Fundraising's National Convention 2012[15] and by writing articles.[16] She has also published video tutorials about setting up a charity with the 'KnowHow NonProfit StudyZone', which is part of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.[17]

Caslon was selected to carry the Olympic Torch on 23 July 2012 in Sutton[18] on Croydon Road (A232) from the junction with The Manor Way by the Wallington County Grammar School to the beginning of Acre Lane. In order to raise money for her charity she put her torch up for sale[19] for an amount of £40000.00 which is needed to feed the 50 orphans of Mants'ase Children's Home for one year.[20]

After serving as director at her charity from June 2007 to March 2013 Caslon returned to the Marie Curie Cancer Care organisation as Senior Corporate Account Manager[21] but remains a trustee with Msizi Africa. In April 2015 she joined the London-based charity emerge poverty free[22] where Caslon (now Herron) headed the fundraising department.[23] From March to June 2016 she was Head of Development with Play for Change[24] and than worked again part-time for Msizi Africa as secretary.[2] Since its founding, she has always worked for the charity in many capacities, supported by a board of trustees.

Lucy Herron is since October 2016, together with her husband, also a director[25] of the shoe manufacturing company Sloafer Limited.[26]

UK Points of Life award

On 29. October 2019 Lucy Herron received from Prime Minister Boris Johnson the UK's 1276th Points of Light award for her work with Msizi Africa.[27] In the award letter Johnson praised Herron for providing, through Msizi Africa, millions of meals to orphans and vulnerable children across Lesotho.[28][29] On 23 October 2020 Herron published an open letter on the official Facebook account of the charity in which she returned the award[28] after Boris Johnson voted in parliament against providing school meals to needy children during the holidays in autumn and winter 2020 inmidst the COVID-19 pandemic.[30]

Mohale's Hoek district

Present projects

Feeding programmes in Mohale's Hoek district

Msizi Africa concentrates its efforts to provide financial and logistic support to community based feeding programmes in villages in the Mohale's Hoek district of the Kingdom of Lesotho.[3][2] In 2016 Msizi Africa Lesotho catered for 108 children in the villages Majapereng, Ha Mahase and Ha Thoriso but tries to raise money using the JustGiving crowd funding platform[31][32] to expand their support to further villages[1] as a survey of 2000 homes by the Msizi Africa Lesotho team revealed severe food shortage due to the drought in the country.[33] In early 2018 the charity supported 96 orphans in those three villages and aimed to launch another feeding programme in a fourth village.[2][34] On 6. June 2018 Msizi Africa announced that it has started to support a fourth village, Ha Lekhoaba, in its feeding programme. End of 2018 the feeding programme was extended to a fifth village, Ha Sekoati, bringing the number of orphans supported by the programme to over 200.[2]

Msizi Africa also continues to support the children of the Mants'ase orphanage in Mohale's Hoek.

COVID-19 pandemic impact

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic the charity has lost up to 80% of its income and the trustees announced that Msizi Africa has to reduce the number of villages supported by their feeding programme from five to three. The villages have been evaluated in order of their vulnerability taking into account the age of the children, the availability of food sources, prevalence of HIV and the presence of adult carers. The food programme in Majapareng has been stopped end of July 2020 and in Ha Mahase end of August 2020.[35] The Irish harpist Aisling Ennis donated the proceeds of the final concert each month of her series of Harp O'Clock online concerts[36] to Msizi Africa to help the charity during the pandemic.[37]

Milk Project

In order to allow Msizi Africa Lesotho to become self-sufficient and able to raise the income for the feeding programmes within the country by 2023, a pilot project was started in June 2020 with two cows and loaned land. The Milk Project will produce milk from a small herd of Jersey cows, giving the milk to the supported children and selling the surplus to raise money to buy food. The project is run by Msizi Africa Lesotho with the initial support of the charity in London.[35][2]

Previously supported projects

Mophato oa Mants'ase Children's Home
30°4′3.5″S 27°22′54.87″E

The Mants'ase Children's Home was started in 1979 as home for unwanted girls by Father Patrick M. Maekane, a retired Anglican priest and founder of the Mophato oa Mants'ase Society. After the initial buildings have been built by local women the first child was admitted in February 1980.[38][39] The Home is located in Qhalasi in the Mohale's Hoek district of the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Rondavel which housed orphans at Mants'ase Children's Home before the new dormitory was built. (Photo: Greg Nusz)

The orphanage is the residential care facility of the Mophato oa Mants'ase Society whose patron is Queen 'Masenate Mohato Seeiso of Lesotho. It was one of the social projects visited by Prince Harry in 2004 during his first visit to the country. At a later visit in 2006[40] he launched there together with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho the Sentebale foundation[5] which continues to assist the Society. Msizi Africa supports the children's home by providing financial help to buy food, build housing and pay for staff salary. The orphanes lived in round houses (rondavels), a typical type of building in that region, which were in a state of disrepair and Msizi Africa funded the building of a new dormitory complete with ablution blocks. Since 2014 the orphanage receives their food support from local organisations inside Lesotho.[41]

Lucy Caslon was from 2010 until 2013 a member of the Board of Trustees of Mants'ase Children's Home and was its temporary manager for a short while in 2011.[42][43]

iZulu Orphan Projects

In 2000 Chadd Bain returned to his native KwaZulu-Natal from the UK and started with two Zulu friends to educate and feed poor people in the rural area he had grown up in. He became involved with an orphanage called 'Nkosnathi' which he supported. In 2002 he met his later wife Kate and they started iZulu Orphan Projects (IOP), a non profit organisation which deals with orphans and widows affected by HIV and AIDS. From originally 80 orphans attending the 'Annual Orphan Christmas party', IOP supports now over 1600 children.[44] After Chadd Bain's tragic death in a motorcycle accident in December 2009[45] the project was in danger of failing and Msizi Africa pledged to feed 250 of the children and became Kate Bains biggest supporter enabling her to continue with the charity.[46] Lucy Caslon climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2010 in order to raise money for that project.[47][48][49]

Peace Matunda School and Orphanage

Msizi Africa helped to fund the feeding programme of the Peace Matunda project founded in 2005 by Unambwe Zephania Kaaya.[3] It consists of an orphanage with 24 children and a school and Kindergarten with over 200 pupils located in the rainforest of Mount Meru in Northern Tanzania, about 15 km from the city of Arusha.[50]

Testimony and Majapereng feeding programmes

Msizi Africa provided food to couples in villages surrounding the Mants'ase Children's Home who cook for local orphans and distribute food parcels. This project supports 160 children not only with food but also with school uniforms and medical care. The Testimony Feeding Programme (covering Ha Potsane, Qalakheng and Kubake) and the Majapereng Feeding Programme were located in nearby villages in the Mohale's Hoek district.

The 28 Fund

The 28 Fund was a campaign started by Msizi Africa in 2011 which aims to gain donation by direct debit accounts set up by supporters for 28 pence (or multiples of that amount) as it costs Msizi Africa 28 pence to feed one child for a day. The project was aimed at businesses as well as individuals.[51]

References
  1. Sello, Limpho (9 November 2016). "Food aid body mulls expansion". Sunday Express, Lesotho. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  2. "Msizi Africa Team". Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  3. Charity Commission, Msizi Africa
  4. Letsema Archived 17 July 2012 at archive.today
  5. Prince Harry
  6. "Mants'ase Childrens Home - History". Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  7. Jordan, Hannah (19 June 2009). "Vodafone Foundation offers bursaries to fund charity workers overseas". Third Sector Online. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
  8. "Last call for Vodafone charity dream jobs abroad applications". Belfast Telegraph. 21 June 2009. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  9. King, Paul (12 November 2010). "Lucy Caslon (Msizi Africa) podcast". Royal Holloway Entrepreneurs. Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  10. Millar, Laura (30 May 2010). "The forgotten children". Fabulous. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  11. "Welcome to the CHOBA e-newsletter for March 2013" (PDF). Christ's Hospital Old Blues' Association. March 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  12. "Vodafone Announce The 'World of Difference' Winners". Female First magazine. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  13. Goodwin, Richard (19 June 2009). "Vodafone Foundation searches for charity workers". ITPRO. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  14. "Women in Public Life Awards - Shortlist". Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  15. "National Convention 2012". Archived from the original on 6 July 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  16. Caslon, Lucy (September 2011). "Once Upon A Time". Lightworker Magazine. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  17. "Setting up a charity". KnowHow NonProfit. Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2012.
  18. "Official site of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games". Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  19. "Calling all philanthropists!". Giving Lots. Archived from the original on 27 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  20. "A Lot To Ask". Giving Lots. Archived from the original on 26 August 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  21. EDF Energy announces three year charity partnership with Marie Curie Cancer Care Archived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  22. UK Charity Commission 'emerge poverty free'
  23. "emerge poverty free Our Team". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  24. "Lucy Herron Linkedin". Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  25. Companies House - Sloafer Limited
  26. Sloafer Limited
  27. "1276. Lucy Herron Providing food for vulnerable children in Lesotho". Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  28. "An Open Letter to the Prime Ministet". Lucy Herron, Msizi Africa. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  29. "Msizi Africa 1276. Lucy Herron". Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  30. Stone, Jon (21 October 2020). "Tory MPs block plan to extend free school meals over holidays". The Independent. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  31. Saving Mpokho and her 70 friends from Lesotho's deadly drought
  32. Ivanov, Alexei (6 January 2017). "Crowdfunding NGO's : A Recipe for Success". Development in Action. Archived from the original on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  33. England, Charlotte (13 August 2016). "Drought devastates Lesotho as water is exported to South Africa". The Independent. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  34. Mellor, Joe (23 March 2018). "Charity launches appeal to fund food programmes for orphans in Africa". The London Economic. Archived from the original on 28 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  35. Herron, Lucy. "Urgent announcement". Msizi Africa. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  36. "Harp O'Clock - bringing virtual concerts to your living room". RTE, Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 31 August 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  37. McCurry, Cate (6 November 2020). "'This is what I need to do' – Harpist brings live music via online concerts". Belfast Telegraph. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
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  39. "Dictionary of African Christian Biography". Archived from the original on 5 May 2012. Retrieved 16 April 2012.
  40. Prince Harry and the Mants'ase Children's Home
  41. Thank you so much Msizi Africa
  42. The Mophato oa Mants'ase Society - 2013 Board
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