The first project Debbera Beukman ever visited for Breadline Africa was Founders Educare. That was twenty-five years ago. It is still standing.

On 1 October 2026, Debbera, Breadline Africa’s Finance and Admin Manager, marks a quarter of a century with Breadline Africa. She arrived from a corporate background when Breadline Africa was still a small organisation providing safe educational infrastructure for children and communities.

“Everyone wore many hats,” she says. “There was an amazing sense of teamwork. Everything you did had a purpose. You always knew why it mattered.”

She did not expect to stay. “Looking back, every moment was totally worth it.

What twenty-five years of change looks like

Ask her what has changed most and she does not start with buildings. As the person who has run finance and administration through every one of those systems, she starts with the filing.

“Everything in the beginning was paper based. There was a time when working in a cloud did not exist.”

What she is proud of is not that the organisation modernised. It is that it modernised without losing itself. “Even with all these changes through the years, Breadline Africa evolved with the times. I am proud of how we handled this growth responsibly. Through this, we did not lose the why.”

That distinction matters. Breadline Africa has changed enormously in twenty-five years, but Debbera still recognises the organisation she joined.

The pattern she noticed early

Debbera describes something she first saw at Founders Educare and has watched repeat at site after site since.

“When you improve a child’s educational infrastructure, the teachers start believing they can do more. The children have better learning spaces. The parents see that as an investment in their children and within the community.”

It is a quiet observation, but it says something important about what educational infrastructure can make possible. For Debbera, the change is not only in the building. It is in what communities and children begin to see as possible within it.

It is something she has seen again and again over the years. “When this gets replicated within the many communities we serve, it stays with you forever.”

For Debbera, it is the handovers

“You see the joy on the children’s faces, and that is when you realise it is much more than a building.”

On working with others

Twenty-five years has also taught her that meaningful work is never done alone.

“You cannot do this alone. Nothing meaningful happens alone. Partnerships are essential. It is not just a nice to have.”

Her reasoning is practical. “Each partnership brings an expertise that we do not have. Partnerships have multiplied what we can do. We have reached places where we never thought we could reach.”

What she would tell herself on day one

“Enjoy the journey. There will be challenges, and there will be countless moments of joy and inspiration. Stick in there, the work will speak for itself. You will not have all the answers on day one. You will learn together.”

What she hopes for next

Asked what she hopes for the next twenty-five years, Debbera does not reach for a target.

“I hope the communities we serve see that early childhood development is the foundation for everything. I hope we stay lean enough to be responsive and mature enough to be sustainable. I hope the next generation of our team feel the same purpose that drew me to Breadline Africa twenty-five years ago.”

Then the line that explains the whole quarter century.

“If we lose the clarity about why we do what we do, then we have lost something fundamental.”

She has said what kept her here more simply than anyone else could. “People and purpose. It is not about just doing a job. It is about helping build something that will outlast you.”

Founders Educare is still standing. So is she.

Thank you, Debbera. Congratulations on twenty-five years.