Meet Our Honoured Members

Toralf Nordbotten

After being an amazing board member in South Africa for years and volunteering every time he came down to SA, Toralf has earned his title as Honoured member of Born in Africa! He ran all fundraising in Norway, looking for funds and new godparents in his country. On top of this, he's also an amazing godparent to children in the program and does a lot to support local families. Thank you for everything, Toralf.

Family Vandermarliere

The Family Vandermarliere who owns the famous biscuit factory ‘Jules Destrooper’ in Belgium, celebrated the company’s 130th birthday in 2016. For this occasion, they worked hand in hand with a lot of famous Belgians and created a unique event that was closed off by an auction. The money raised during the auction was donated to two good causes of which Born in Africa was one. This generous amount was well invested in our Education Centre in Kranshoek and we are very grateful for their support. When the family visited us in 2017 we therefore decided to express our gratitude again by making them honoured members of Born in Africa. We hope to keep working together in the future and want to thank you for making a difference with us!

Nick and Penny Brooks

Nick and Penny have dedicated much of their time to providing Entrepreneurship courses for our High School students and their parents as well as donating a substantial amount of 2nd hand clothing and sports uniforms every time they come down.

Alan and Jane Bradley

We are proud to announce two new honourary members of Born in Africa; Alan and Jane Bradley. This amazing couple, along with Buckinghanshire BIA Charity Golf Day, raise funds annually in order to grant several Dreams for our learners and students. We are very grateful for all their help and hard work!

Christine Lernout

Christine Lernout is a woman of many talents, and thanks to a few of those talents she has played an integral part in the successful organisation Born in Africa has become. Christine has the mammoth task of heading up our accounts department in Belgium. Both her and her husband serve on the BIA board in Belgium where her husband Jacques is vice-chairman. They are also proud godparents to two Born in Africa children. Jacques does a tremendous amount of work for our Corporate fundraising program and their son Karl and daughter in law Katleen have spent time volunteering at Born in Africa,Plettenberg Bay. This year Christine has served our organisation for just more than 15 years and we would like to thank her for her many loyal years of service by making her an honoured BIA member! "Christine, we are forever in your debt and so grateful for all you and your family have done for Born in Africa, let's look forward to another 15 years of working together!"

Reinhard Schydlo

Congratulations to Reinhard Schydlo who was our first honorary board member. Remi De Backer (BIA Chairman, South Africa) handed over the ‘honorary jacket’. Keep up the good work!

Marie-Paule Smet & Luc Seeuws

Born in Africa would like to commend, recognise and award Marie-Paule Smet and Luc Seeuws with an Honorary members title as they have done so much for Born in Africa. Since we established the Study Bursary programme three years ago, they have been supporting our students whole heartedly. What is so incredible is that we can already share with them the fruits of their labor. What a remarkable couple!

Lief & Ivo De Bisschop

We our so proud of this couple. They support our swimming classes every year. Because of their financial contribution it is possible for us to organize the swimming program every single year.

Thank you so much for your support!

Dolf Wieërs

We are greatly honoured to know Dolf. Thanks to his godchild Sofie Wieërs, co-founder of Born in Africa, he got to know our organization well and saw us growing in the last 10 years. Dolf has helped us to find new godparents, sponsorship and organized many contacts for us within South-Africa as well as overseas. Thank you for your big contribution towards Born in Africa.

Kitty and Kees van Herbergen

Born in Africa would like to thank this couple for their years of commitment to the progress of BIA upliftment programs.

Loes and Marnix Hellemans

Born in Africa would like to thank this couple for their years of dedication to us and various upliftment programs run by Born in Africa.

Roger Cassenaer

Roger Cassanaar had been part of Born in Africa since 2010 until he passed away a few years later. He was the godparent of two BIA children and was an amazing ambassador for BIA. He also did fundraising and donated his 90th birthday presents to BIA. Thank you Roger, we truly value your support over the years, may you rest in peace!

Edwin and Annie Demunck

Doctor Edwin Demunck and his wife Annie have truly earned their position at BIA as honoured board members. Edwin is an ear, nose and throat specialist and they visited BIA as volunteers to examine more than 300 children. They also stirred enthusiasm among their friends upon returning home by organising a benefit art exhibition boasting 20 artisits, among which was Annie herself. it just goes to show what a big difference having empathy for others can make!

Luc and Agnes De Wulf

Born in Africa would like to thank and commend Luc and Agnes De Wulf as honourary board members at BIA. They were some of the first BIA godparents at the very beginning, are involved with fundraising and have truly stood by and believed in the children they support, making a large contribution toward tertiary studies.

Jo and Dede Dirickx

This couple are very involved with fundraising and finding new BIA godparents while they also organize a BIA golfday every year in Oudenaarde.

Jef Michielsen

Born in Africa is proud and thankful to have such a wonderfully inspiring man as a supporter. As a professional cycling instructur and teacher, Jef decided to focus his passion in the area of his expertise to make a differendce. He did some intensive fundraising at schools, gave presentations to potential sponsors, ran his own Facebook page and wrote a monthly newsletter to sponsors. Jef's Bicycle Project resulted in the purchase and distribution of more than 90 brand new bicycles received by all the grade R classes where BIA works and making dreams of other BIA learners come true. It is our pleasure to award you with honorary membership at Born in Africa.

Dr Jef Valkeniers

Jef Valkeniers is very involved with BIA and he was part of the organization who sent Isabelle de Smul-Brink, BIA General Coordination, to South Africa in 1998. Isabelle came to work as a development coordination worker in Plett for a year. Dr Valkeniers has been very involved from BIA's beginning and his outstanding moral support has been of tremendous value to the organization.