New Jerusalem on path to independence

“Go superstars!” This was the chant by the New Jerusalem Children’s Home dancers as they welcomed their guests to the grand opening of the home’s bakery on 29 August.

The home is a refuge for about 80 orphaned children. Lafarge South Africa, a cement company, has built a bakery at the home.

The company said the objective of the bakery was to provide an on-site facility to bake healthy bread for the children of the home.

The newly appointed CEO of Lafarge, Kenneth MacLean was present at the event.

“Simply put, these children are the future of the country. As a proudly South African company our success depends on these children to become our engineers, managers and our leaders. For this reason we aim to form partnerships that have a strong, sustainable foundation.”

It is with sustainability in mind that the home’s chairperson of the board of directors, Mark Shinners beamed with pride.

“To just say thank you when so much has been done, sounds a bit mean. With more resources the children’s home can do so much more for these children. We will be sending to children to the United States for higher education,” said Shinners.

Anna Mojapelo, one of the founders of the home said, “I’m grateful that we can become sustainable, also creating job opportunities. We are hoping that this bakery will duplicate itself in the future in other areas so that communities can sustain themselves.”

The home previously had 43 employees but with the building of the bakery, they could add four more staff members to their payroll.

The home, which is based in President Park, already has four customers within the surrounding area, including a school.

Mojapelo has big hopes for the growth of the bakery. “My dream is that we become as big as Cakes for Africa [to supply] corporate businesses.”

Click for more