After-School Program: A new year brings new opportunities!

The new “varsity” semester is well underway in South Africa, and with it a new cohort of study-abroad students have arrived to volunteer with CHOSA’s After-School Program! This term, volunteers continue to tutor the children at Emasithandane and Baphumelele Children’s Homes, which have hosted our after-school program for years. We also have now expanded to [...]

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Memories of South Africa: An alum’s experience

By: Christina Grayson It’s been almost four years since I left home on my first trip to South Africa. The trip changed me and opened my eyes to so much that we cannot fathom independently here in the United States. Since returning, I know I can speak for a lot of former CHOSA volunteers when [...]

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CHOSA alumnus named new Fundraising Coordinator

Hello CHOSA family! I am excited to be joining the CHOSA staff as the new Fundraising Coordinator. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, I studied Sociology & Social Justice at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Upon graduating in 2010, I spent a year volunteering with Hands at Work, an NGO supporting community-based efforts to serve orphans and [...]

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Introducing CHOSA’s Newest Family Members!

As CHOSA Regional Director Rob Rosenbaum progresses toward the date of his departure, part of his handover process includes training and transitioning two new CHOSA team members to take up his role. Abbie Heffelfinger and Solitude Dasie officially began work on January 24, 2011 and have spent the past few weeks soaking up all they [...]

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From the Desk of the Regional Director

Dear CHOSA Friends and Supporters,  As we open the New Year of 2011  – I’d like to look back on our work in 2010 – a historic year for both CHOSA and South Africa – and look ahead to CHOSA in the coming year and beyond. Before I begin, I want to welcome our new [...]

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One More Day to Support the Children in 2010!

Dear CHOSA Supporters & Family Members! Warm Festive Greetings! It’s that time of year again when we are all celebrating important family holidays and working hard to finish whatever the current year still requires of us, while preparing our hopes, dreams and plans for the coming New Year. A few months ago we wrote to [...]

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On Connecting and Re-Connecting with Our Hopes for South Africa

Dear CHOSA Volunteers and Graduate Volunteers; We have not yet met, but I already know that we have something very important in common: we all went to South Africa at some point intending to spend a limited time learning as much as we could about a country in the throes of an exciting political and [...]

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Molweni iitshomi! (hi friends!) –> CHOSA Fundraiser

Accessed from a CHOSA Volunteer’s Blog: LX in Africa Molweni iitshomi! (hi friends!) I miss you all, but am absolutely loving my semester in Cape Town. A very special part of my experience is my volunteer work with an organization called Children of South Africa (CHOSA), which was started by American semester abroad students. I [...]

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Weekend Warriors Perform for a Different Kind of Audience

In early October, CHOSA had the exciting opportunity to welcome the Weekend Warriors to Cape Town. WW joined CHOSA’s afterschool program to put on a concert for the kids. We threw a couple of guitars into the van and decided to see what would happen. WW ended up putting on an acoustic concert for the 40 or so kids who were at practice that day. It was a HUGE hit and the kids were singing their songs well into the weekend.

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Remembering Mama’s Day 2007 by Ellen Rosenberg

With Father’s Day just behind us, I find myself thinking about today’s dynamic and unique family structures almost hourly. It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 2 years since CHOSA’s first networking event. When the idea to bring all of the Mamas together in town for a Mother’s Day brunch sprung to life, [...]

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