Voices for Animals – A series of interviews with those who speak out loud and clear for all who are born nonhuman
Chad Cupido is an
impressive force for change!
Armed with a degree in Journalism and dual MBAs from France and Taiwan, Chad is the founder of the Dr Phil-afel Foundation for Plant Powered People. He also serves as Executive Officer at Beauty Without Cruelty and is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of the Western Cape. The list of his achievements is long, but for this Animal Voice feature, we focus on his commitment to justice for animals through education.
Animal Voice:
Chad, welcome — and thank you for joining our Voices for Animals. May we start with your childhood and formative years. Where did you grow up and how did your commitment to animals begin?
Chad Cupido:
I was just another curious skinny boy growing up on the Cape Flats, part of a tight-knit coastal community where family and faith shaped daily life. But sometimes, I would escape the confines of family life and run down to Muizenberg beach where I would race against the wind and feel every step of the sand beneath my feet. The ocean became a sanctuary for me. It was also my teacher. The waves taught me perseverance because nothing could prevent them from relentlessly rolling up onto the shore. The horizon taught me unspeakable wonder and a sense of mystery still to discover.
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Muizenberg was also the home of my Khoi Khoi ancestors. It was there that I found freedom, peace — and my spiritual compass.
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Animal Voice:
Please tell us about Roger and the impact he had on your life.
Chad Cupido:
Yes, sometimes it take the loss of someone for you to know what love is. Roger was my cat. He
was a big orange Garfield look-alike. He was killed by two neighbourhood dogs. I buried Roger myself. That was when I understood that compassion cannot be selective. The heartbreak of his death planted a seed in me that would define my life’s work.
Animal Voice:
A few years later, you watched Earthlings, a documentary narrated by Joaquin Phoenix that exposed humanity’s exploitation of animals for food, clothing, entertainment, and testing.
Chad Cupido:
Yes. It broke me open. For weeks, I couldn’t sleep. It was as if I had entered a darkness and had awakened within it. Sometimes you have to go into the dark to understand the light.
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Animal Voice:
You say you emerged from the darkness with a new understanding of the word ‘enlightenment’.
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Chad Cupido:
I saw the truth and the weight of the responsibility that accompanies the privilege of awakening… of enlightenment. It was like a voice calling me to action. Awareness without action is a form of paralysis. Out of all that pain, I found purpose.
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Animal Voice:
Today, you are executive officer at Beauty Without Cruelty, and founder and CEO of the Dr Phil-afel Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to plant-based living and environmental stewardship through humane education.
Chad Cupido:
Yes. After all, education isn’t about information. It’s about transformation. For instance, our Beauty Without Cruelty Troopers introduces children to nature, animals, and the concept of sentience. Many of the kids we work with have never seen beyond what it is to be disadvantaged. But we leave them in no doubt that they belong to something sacred.
Animal Voice:
One of the intriguing things about you, is that you are a member of the Gorachouqua Tribe, one of the historic Khoikhoi lineages of the south-western Cape. Your lineage can be traced back to one of the original indigenous Bushmen tribes who occupied the Cape when Jan van Riebeeck arrived in 1652.
Chad Cupido:
I am truly fortunate to have this lineage. It has given me so much of my spiritual compass. In indigenous understanding, animals are relatives, not resources. True indigenous practice isn’t about domination. It’s about reciprocity and living in balance. That’s why I speak about moving away from ritual slaughter to ritual salvation where instead of taking a life to honour our ancestors, we save a life in their honour.
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Animal Voice:
What an absolutely wonderful life-affirming concept of deep and sacred respect. I think it is a concept that the authors of ‘Africa and her Animals’ (published by the University of South Africa), would agree with. [Page 7 Education Rewired July 2019]
Chad Cupido:
The Dr Phil-afel Foundation for Plant Powered People has also come into being at the right time. I believe we are entering an era where people can understand that indigenous practice and veganism are two expressions of the same truth – reverence for life. In modern society, we have normalised cruelty. Our challenge is to awaken compassion and reverence for all life.
When I meditate on Muizenberg beach at sunrise, when light turns the sea to silver, I am reminded that spirit exists in all beings – ourselves, animals, plants, even the wind. There is no hierarchy in creation. Only relationship. Once you see spirit in all things, you can never unsee it. Every heartbeat matters. We are called to reawaken humanity.
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Animal Voice:
You say that the sand and the waves, the salt and the wind of Muizenberg beach are their own kind of music. They carry the hum of stories as yet untold. May the untold stories you speak of, manifest to become part of our children’s heritage.
