Our Talents

A photo of the Young Little Stars with Nate Butler from the US at the ARTS Johannesburg. Hendrico and Cecil have been invited as models to go to Florida in July 2017 as part of an International Talent showcase! 

The gumboot team put on a great performance and with some more time to develop their show they'll have a good chance of being invited too in 2018. They had very positive feedback from international judge Kim Myers and we are extremely proud of them. 

We are also looking for sponsors for Hendrico and Cecil as it will come to a large amount of R73,000 each to cover all their costs to attend the showcase. This is a huge opportunity for children from a children's home, boosting their self worth and confidence. It also inspires the others to do better and to be disciplined in what they can achieve. If anyone could find it in their hearts to help with sponsorship this could make dreams come true for these hard-working and ambitious children. Please can get in contact.

And here's the welcoming committee back at the home ready to celebrate the Little Stars return with some home made cakes.

Here's an example of the certificate each boy got for their involvement. Well done - a great achievement!

The Journey 2016

The Journey 2015 - Bloemfontein to Port Elizabeth!

Looking forward to Port Elizabeth - Cape Town 2016 Journey in September. Any person/volunteer interested to partake in the 2016 Journey, please contact Carol Deysel (+27828674028) or Vicky van Jaarsveld (+27726646656) for more information or email us (emm.youthcare@gmail.com) Entry date will close 30 August 2016. All are welcome!

The Journey 2015

Imagine walking from Bloemfontein to Port Elizabeth, a total of 637 kms in 15 short days, with only a backpack and tent; camping on the side of the road and eating only what you’ve managed to carry with you. There are motivated South Africans who have decided to do just this! Why would they do it? Simply put – for charity and awareness!

This is the second year that this walk will take place. In 2014 Nkosinathi Manganyi and Luchantla Andrews walked from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein for their charities. After last year’s trip they announced “We got transformed on the road, and The Journey turned into a lifetime experience, that’s why it cannot end with just Bloemfontein”; and that’s when the planning started for the next stage of the walk – now named The Journey. Their eventual aim is to have left a footprint in every province of South Africa with The Journey

The Journey began on Saturday 5 September when founder of the walk, Nkosinathi Manganyi together with Vicky van Jaarsveld, a Shelly Beach resident, completed the first half of the walk as far as Middelburg, Eastern Cape for their combined charities. Nkosinathi completed the second half of the walk for his personal charities and now Vicky will begin the second half of her walk on 7th October for her own charities.

Co-founder and co-owner of Summer Heat Model & Talent Search, Vicky, will be walking with Xolani Nompume, a social worker from Emmanuel Children’s Home and Mark Ferreira from Coca-Cola. One of the charities that will benefit from this second half of Vicky’s Journey is Emmanuel Children’s Home in Middelburg, Eastern Cape who are in need of building supplies so they can extend their home and take in more children in need. Vicky will also be walking to raise funds for Bolla, a gorgeous 8 year old Maltese poodle, to have life changing surgery. Bolla has cataracts on both her eyes and has gone completely blind. The Animal Eye Hospital, based in Johannesburg with a branch in Cape Town is the only specialised veterinarian facility that will be able to perform the surgery required and Vicky would like to raise the money for Bolla to be attended to. Vicky has been training for this Journey but, knowing exactly what to expect in the second half of the walk (in the first half she was thoroughly challenged – even to having to walk with bleeding feet), she sticks firmly with the old maxim – “The Body Achieves What the Mind Believes”. Through sand storms, rain and blistering sun, diminishing food supplies, blisters and absolute exhaustion, she says what really matters is The Journey – not the destination.

This challenging undertaking is one that will take the walkers out of their comfort zone and will definitely be a journey through life at the same time.

Already a host of sponsors have come on board to assist Vicky with this massive undertaking, including Spar Middelburg EC sponsoring supplies; Coca-Cola offering Powerade and Autobody Repairs in Middelburg EC who will supply a back up emergency vehicle and a driver.

If you would like to support this initiative you could assist with sponsorship of building supplies for Emmanuel Children’s Home, or a donation towards Bollas eye surgery. Alternatively contact Vicky on vicky@summerheatsearch.co.za for more information.

To follow The Journey, please visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Journey/1459394264345794

Charity Riders

The Empyrean Riders is a local bikers club from Middelburg. Jaques Niemand is the President of this club and organizer of event on the Easter weekend who visited the home, handing out goody bags, other treats and Easter eggs to the kids. The kids could look at their shiny bikes and enjoyed the time with the riders. Thanks to all riders present and secretary Inge Botha, as well as Celia, Jaques mum who baked cupcakes for the kids. The club plans to drive from Middelburg to Botswana on their bikes raising funds for Emmanuel towards end April. The club need sponsors in order to do this run for the home. Contact details: ingebotha@rocketmail.com

A great project and we are grateful for supporters like this. Here's a photo of the visit:

Trans Karoo Mountain Bike Tour

The excitement is growing, the days are flying past and riders and crew are preparing hard for this year’s great event from Middelburg to Port Elizabeth. 500km in 5 days on mountain bikes following gravel roads and jeep tracks across the Great Karoo raising funds for Emmanuel Child & Youth Care Centre.

It's one week to go until this tour starts so we hope the training is going well for all the riders. We would like to take this opportunity to pass on our gratitude to all our sponsors for their support of this tour and special thanks goes to Billy Teeton for organising this. 

Thanks also go out to Rhett (ECYCC Chairman) and Michelle Newton, as well as Agape Church, for accommodating the Transkaroo Team over the coming weekend. The team will visit the Emmanuel home on Saturday and we look forward to their arrival. Thanks also to Bertus (Board member) and Jaco Meyer (new Treasurer of the ECYCC board) for their part in making the team comfortable during their stay in Middelburg.

Visit the tour website for updates and photos of their progress: transkaroomtb.blogspot.com

A Call For Assistance

Dear friends of Emmanuel Child & Youth Care Centre,

This letter is a public address to reach out for help. Every charitable organisation in South Africa is facing tough times, especially smaller endeavours like our own. We have full intentions of continuing to deliver services to our children and the community in the best way that we can. In order to deliver these services, we need your assistance in any way possible.

Assistance towards the raising of funds and sponsorships would be a lifeline to the Centre; especially to provide hands to help out with the day-to-day duties at the home. We currently have nineteen (19) children, with only two volunteer care workers (doing shifts including weekends and night shift) assisting with the day-to-day care of the children. Needless to say that this is a huge challenge: each child comes with their own background problems, learning disabilities, other more serious disabilities, substance abuse etc.

We cannot continue to operate effectively without the funds and manpower to fulfil our duty to take care of the poor and the needy within the local community. We do not receive any subsidy up to date from the Department of Social Welfare.

Ways in which you can assist:

- Monthly donations for as little as R100.00 per month towards staff allowances.

- Monthly donations towards high electricity bills.

- Monthly donations towards food, cleaning materials and toiletries.

- Monthly donations towards other running costs like water, telephone.

In short, the ECYCC need funds in order to keep the doors open and have the children well cared for, all of the above-mentioned are compulsory via the Child Care Act.

We often receive items of clothing and toys, which we already have a storeroom full of to serve the children's needs. We always are extremely grateful for whatever people donate to us, yet if there are not funds to keep the running costs going, we cannot continue this cause successfully. Every monetary donation is put to good use - it goes directly into providing care for the children and there is no middle-men or unnecessary fundraising infrastructure it goes towards.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information. We hope to hear from some good Samaritans...

Clayton Prepares for a Big 2012

ECYCC has a had a good success story in December. Funds have been raised for the first quarter of his planned Gap Year with the FCE (Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education). This chance for study and travel cannot be valued highly enough - Clayton will get to see life outside of Middelburg properly for the first time and even outside South Africa. We now look for sponsors to help fund the remainder of the Gap Year.

We owe some a lot of gratitude to friends of ECYCC who have helped secure sponsorship for Clayton and given him this life changing opportunity. Heartfelt thanks go out to Candice Nash and her company Servier Laboratories in the UK who have kindly donated funds to help set Clayton on his way and purchase the basic items needed for the start of the trip. Also we are very grateful to Tian and Karen Erasmus who have been instrumental in making this all happen.

We are proud of Clayton's desire to make the most of this opportunity and cannot wait to see how he develops in this big year ahead.

Well Done Runners

We want to thank Rima, Rob and Mark and say we are very proud of them. They ran sponsored runs in the UK (Derby Kilomathon 26.2 km and Brighton Marathon 26.2 miles) and raised money for the home, through their families, friends and colleagues. We are so grateful for the hard work they put into the challenges and are thankful to everyone that sponsored them. The funds will make a big difference to the ongoing care of the children.

Thank you, no words to describe how much this means to us!

Little Lebu

At ECH there is always hope, but we have sad news that doctors are of the opinion that little Lebu is in the final stages of terminal illness. Lebu is 7 years old and disabled; life has been a real struggle for her and we can only be grateful that she's finally in our home to find some comfort and get some full-time care, for however long that may be. We want to help her so much. Carol and the team are doing a fantastic job so far working round the clock but as always they need to resources to care properly for Lebu, as well as the rest of the children who live at ECH.

Updated: Lebu is now being cared for, along with her sister, by an auntie. We really hope she is comfortable and continues to receive treatment for her conditions.

Click on the photo to enlarge it

Get Involved

How you can help:

• Donations
• Food sponsorship
• Fundraising
• Volunteer work

Please contact us on emm.childrenshome@gmail.com if you can support us in these ways, or any other assistance you think would be of use.

Emmanuel Children's Home now has a Facebook group where you become part of our community - you can join it by clicking here.