Michael Lapsley was born in Hastings, New Zealand on June 2nd 1949 at the very beginning of the apartheid era in South Africa. His parents were very devout Christians and baptized the fifth of their seven children, “Alan Michael.” When Michael entered the society of the Sacred Mission (SSM) at the tender age of seventeen, he dropped the name “Alan “and took his second name as his religious name. His first contact with South Africa happened some years before his entering the religious life when at the age of thirteen he read Travel Huddleston’s “Naught for your comfort” which made an indelible impression on him.

Michael Lapsley is one of the prominent figures in South Africa who championed the cause to an end, to South Africa’s Apartheid.  Fr. Mike, as he is affectionately called has a humble beginning and inspires people through his sermons and counseling particularly during South Africa’s iron rule of oppression.  Nelson Mandela, a former South African leader describes him as a special person because of his role in the fight for freedom.

He is a man of vision who waded through great pain and suffering in the pursuit for freedom and justice for the ordinary people in South Africa. April 1990 he became the target of a letter bomb from South Africa, Loosing both hands and eye. Notwithstanding all these calamities he went through, Fr. Mike still as has passion for humankind.

The Foundation was named after him because of his immense contributions to the black Africa community during and after apartheid regime in South Africa.