CIEE and Abaphumeleli: CIEE Alum Chris Grava co-founds nonprofit to help South African community
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When Chris Grava spent a semester abroad in Cape Town in 2012, he didn’t anticipate that it would change his career path, or that he would end up co-founding a nonprofit, Intsikelelo, to help the South African community of Khayelitsha. Intsikelelo – which means “blessing” in Xhosa – is focused on helping orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa.
Near the end of his study abroad semester, Chris’ brother, Nick, visited him in Cape Town. Nick came across a struggling foster home and spontaneously decided to skip his flight home to stay in South Africa and help, and eventually became Managing Director of the foster home. The following summer, Chris returned to Africa to join him. “The orphanage was in this sort of crisis mode, and they needed all the help they could get, so I went, and that summer was the progression of trying to identify all of the problems and think of potential solutions,” Chris recalls. Through the next year, the brothers tried to figure out the best way to affect change in the community – through collaboration with existing organizations and the government, and with corporate sponsorships – but found that it was not enough, and decided to start their own nonprofit. They launched an online fundraiser, and produced a GoPro-style video of the children in the Khayelitsha orphanage, Abaphumeleli. Within two weeks, they had raised over $30,000.
CIEE has been working with Abaphumeleli in an informal way since 2013, and their relationship has only grown to date. Currently, they have CIEE students who visit the orphanage twice a week to do activities with the children and complete impact projects there. “We love what Chris and Nick are doing and want to help them as much as we can,” says Jesse Twum-Boafo, a program assistant at the CIEE Cape Town Study Center.
Chris and Nick have big plans for the future of Intsikelelo. They’re working on opening a new short-term care center across from Abaphumeleli, and on a new initiative to create jobs and professional development training for teenagers graduating out of the childcare system. They’re increasing their media reach by working with GoPro on a follow-up video, and they’re the exclusive beneficiary for the third annual Capital Ball in Washington, D.C. on December 20th. However, when asked about his decision to focus his work on helping communities in need in South Africa, Chris seems surprised by the question. “There was never a moment where that decision was really made in that way,” he explains. “It was really just following different opportunities as they presented themselves. And it all turned into this. It’s been this amazing, crazy journey.”
Interested in learning more about Intsikelelo? Follow them on Facebook for updates on their work in South Africa.