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Meet the Team
 | Keith Borien, BEFSA Chief Executive Officer
Keith Borien was born in Cape Town but grew up in London following the emigration of his family to England in 1956. Members of his family are still resident in one of Cape Town’s townships, having been displaced from District 6 in the 1960s. Keith is a qualified teacher and has worked in several schools across the UK over a 12 year period between 1972 and 1984. In 1985 Keith entered educational administration as an education officer with Oxfordshire County Council. During his long period in public service Keith had responsibility for schools in the city of Oxford and Mid-Oxfordshire, for Oxfordshire's special schools, special services, for the Councils’ extensive links with the Health Authority and the Community Health Trusts, and for the planning and development of Oxfordshire’s school buildings. Within the last of these responsibilities he was responsible for the planning, co-ordination and management of a £50m project to reorganise the school system in Oxford. He retired from local government service in August 2004. Keith has a huge personal commitment to the process of education transformation in South Africa and in particular to the principles of development, equity & redress. His doctoral research was focussed on the huge challenges facing provincial authorities striving to implement government policy in South Africa. Between 1994 & 2004, Keith was the lead officer on Oxfordshire County Council’s South Africa Working Group. He holds a D Phil from the University of Oxford, a Masters degree in Educational Administration from the University of Reading and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of London. Keith now lives with his wife, Catherine, in South Africa, where he leads the work for BEFSA as the foundation’s Chief Executive Officer. |  | Catherine Borien, BEFSA Chair
Catherine Borien is one of the founding trustees of BEFSA. She was born in Preston, Lancashire. Catherine qualified as a teacher in 1974. She has taught English and Drama in secondary schools in Basingstoke, High Wycombe and Wantage, and for a period of 14 years she was Head of Drama and Deputy Head of Year at The Cherwell School in North Oxford. In 2003 Catherine was appointed as a Key Stage 3 Consultant for the Foundation Subjects with Oxfordshire County Council. In this role Catherine was responsible for the promotion of the Government’s Key Stage 3 National Teaching and Learning Strategy in a number of secondary and special schools in Oxfordshire. Her work included the training of teachers, guidance on curriculum planning and support for teachers in the classroom. Her work also included the promotion of Assessment for Learning (AfL), the process of seeking & interpreting classroom evidence for use by learners and teachers to decide where learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. Its strategies are considered to be central to good classroom practice and whole-school improvement. Catherine now lives with her husband, Keith, in South Africa. She is the Chairman of Trustees and Treasurer, and also writes the BEFSA newsletter to ensure that all BEFSA’s supporters are kept up to date with BEFSA’s work. |  | Sarah Borien, BEFSA Trustee
Sarah Borien was born in 1984 in Oxford, and has recently obtained a BA Hons degree in English Language with Creative Writing at Lancaster University. She now lives in Tackley, Oxfordshire and works as a Medical Sales Executive for Oxford University Press. Sarah has worked for BEFSA as the UK Link since her parents moved to South Africa in October 2005. In her role as BEFSA’s UK link, Sarah is our main information provider for all non South African enquiries. Sarah also maintains this website. |  | Anna Borien, BEFSA Trustee
Anna Borien was born in 1986 in Oxford, and is currently studying Cultural & Media Studies with Film Studies at the University of West England in Bristol. She is in her final year of her degree course & hopes to begin a career in location management or film production when she completes her studies in 2008. Anna travelled to South Africa in May 2006 with Jessica Rutson to carry out some volunteer work for BEFSA at the primary school on Robben Island. |  | Martin Roberts, BEFSA Trustee
Martin Roberts was born in Sussex and studied History at Oxford University. He taught in a number of schools, his final post being head teacher of the Cherwell School, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts he has written a number of history textbooks for schools. The one he enjoyed writing most was a History of South Africa, which is used by pupils studying for public examinations. He organises the history programme for the Prince of Wales Education Summer Schools and is a governor of an Oxford secondary school. Both through marriage & family connections he has visited South Africa frequently. |  | Diana Roberts, BEFSA Trustee
Diana Roberts was born in Johannesburg and attended the University of Cape Town where she studied Social Sciences. She moved to England to get married and to complete her degree at the University of Bradford. Diana has worked as a social worker in a variety of settings with people of all ages and was recently a senior manager for Oxfordshire Social Services with particular responsibilities for strategic planning and development linking health & social care services. With family members living in Cape Town, she has kept closely in touch with developments in South Africa, and with her husband Martin they are frequent visitors to the country. |  | Mike Salter, BEFSA Trustee
Mike Salter is the Head of Business and a Regional Director in Atkins Design & Engineering Solutions business in Oxford which employs 70 Architects, Building Surveyors, Project Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Building Services Engineers & Structural Engineers. Mike comes from a practical construction background, with resource management, project planning, technical standards and quality control key aspects of this. Mike also has extensive knowledge of working as a Project Director on a large number of commercial and education buildings, including a £50m City School Reorganisation project for Oxfordshire County Council. Mike has a reputation for delivering such schemes on time and on budget. Mike has also delivered office wide initiatives to develop a client approved, rationalised, set of construction standards and components to give repeat clients a cost effective and consistent design solution.
Mike’s current role concentrates on the running of the office and client management but he is also still actively involved in the planning and management of major projects for a wide range of clients.
Mike is married to Heather; they have two teenage children, Megan and Rory. Mike is a keen rugby fan and his other interests include gardening, keeping chickens and motorcycling. |  | Peter Giliam, BEFSA Trustee
Peter Giliam was born in South Africa, 1956, in the industrial town of Van der Byjl Park. He grew up in Pretoria, having attended mostly public schools for both his primary and high school education. He spent two years in the South African infantry where, as an officer in 1974 & 1975, he did time in Namibia and Angola. He studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Pretoria and obtained an Honours Degree, specializing in Automotive & Project Management. Peter has spent most of his Professional career in the Automotive Industry which has seen his family move between South Africa, Germany, the UK and currently, the USA. Peter's better half is a life long educationist, as was his late uncle Larry Robertson who dedicated his life to the betterment of education in South Africa. Peter truly believes the upliftment of education and the improvement of the lives of our peoples of Southern Africa has to be part of what we do in our lives.
|  | Elmar Esterhuysen, BEFSA Trustee
Elmar Esterhuysen was born in a small Boland village called Riebeeck Kasteel in 1945. After completing matriculation at Paarl Boys' High School, Elmar did a year of compulsory military service. In 1965 he enrolled at the University of Stellenbosch where he obtained a Masters degree in Counselling Psychology, a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma in Specialized Education. In 1970 he was appointed as teacher psychologist at a high school in Cape Town and became a school psychologist in 1975, working across a number of schools in the Cape Peninsula. He was appointed Head of the Cape Town Central Education Support Centre in 1987 where he worked until 1996. Elmar entered private practice as a psychologist focusing on children with learning & emotional problems. He is currently semi retired and lives on the West Coast of South Africa.
|  | Wendy Woods, BEFSA Trustee
Wendy Woods was born in South Africa, and lived with her husband, Donald Woods and their 5 children in the Eastern Cape. She was active in the Black Sash, a women’s pressure group which protested against apartheid laws. She and her husband became involved with Steve Biko and members of the Black Consciousness Movement in 1976. As a result the Woods family were harassed by state security police, and left the country in 1978, soon after Steve Biko had been murdered in prison. The family were the subject of Richard Attenborough’s film ‘Cry Freedom’, which told the story of their friendship with Biko, his family & his colleagues, as well of Biko’s significance in the South Africa’s liberation movement. In London Wendy became involved in development issues, working for the International Broadcasting Trust, an independent television company which made programmes for broadcast on development and environmental issues. She also continued her involvement in South Africa. For some years she was involved with the Canon Collins Educational Trust, a London-based charity which supports the education of black South Africans, as well as education projects in South Africa. She first worked for the Trust as fundraiser and was subsequently Vice Chair of its Board of Trustees. She also ran her own project, in conjunction with Keith Borien, which sent books to rural schools and to Fort Hare University in the Eastern Cape. Wendy is also Chair of the Donald Woods Trust. |  | Eldred Fray, BEFSA Trustee
Eldred was born in East London, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, on 21 January 1953. He matriculated at the John Bisseker High School in 1971 and went on to complete a BSc Degree in 1974 majoring in Mathematics and Physics at the University of the Western Cape (UWC). Eldred also obtained the Higher Education Diploma at UWC, a B Ed degree at the University of South Africa in 1985 and a MEd degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 1989. Eldred started his teaching career as a Maths and Science teacher at John Bisseker High School and later became principal of Green Point High School. In 1992 he was promoted to Inspector of Education. In 1995 he became Director for Physical Resource Planning and Human Resource Development in the newly established Department of Education in the Eastern Cape Province. In this capacity he has been extensively involved in the provision of much needed educational infrastructure, especially in the rural parts of the province. He played an important role in accessing donor funds from the Japanese government and the EU for the construction of schools in the rural parts of the province. He is currently the Acting Chief Director for Education Social Support Services in the same department. Eldred has travelled widely and has been exposed to the education systems of countries as far a field as India, Japan, Australia and the UK. He also serves on the Council of the University of Fort Hare.
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