Emmanuel Children's Home, Middelburg, South Africa

Emmanuel Child & Youth Care Centre (ECYCC) provides care and safe refuge for children who have been abused, neglected, abandoned and orphaned. Based in the town of Middelburg (Eastern Cape, South Africa). ECYCC is a registered NPO (non-profit organisation) in South Africa.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Recent Photos

First off, some exciting news - a number of our children have been invited to dance on stage at the Summer Heat Gala Awards event. Eight of the Emmanuel gumboot dancers "Young Little Stars" will perform on the 13th of December at the Summer Heat Awards, Wild Coast Sun! They are so excited to take this trip to the South Coast of Kwa-Zulu Natal, which will give them the chance to see the sea as well.

We also have some new photos to share - from the top to the bottom:
1. Volunteer Jonathan leads our building project - a excellent pair of helping hands!
2. Volunteer Nick and some of the boys all putting in some hard work.
3. Hendrico enjoying the chance to use his painting skills.
4. Everyone doing their bit of teamwork.
5. New Apostolic Church visit the home to donate tinned foods and sing Xmas carols.






Sunday, October 4, 2015

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

Sunday, August 23, 2015

August News & Photos

It's been a busy few months at ECYCC with lots of work going on behind the scenes with the Department of Social Development and also our building works (getting closer to finish extra bedrooms and bathrooms in the new wing of the house).

Here are a few bits of news and accompanying photos. First off, our new social worker Xolani has settled in well - he has a great relationship with the children and he's very efficient and capable. Here he is helping Ashley and Hendrico fix some broken shelves:


We've had some new arrivals at the home, so a big Emmanuel welcome to Zander, Hilda and Blondy. Here they are with Ronaldo, just before heading off to school:


ECYCC manager Carol and the care workers went through training on FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) in order to learn to handle behavioural problems that can create. With a number of other NPO's from Middelburg attending too, the training course took place for 3 days in July at Agape church and was kindly sponsored by Hands on Africa. ECYCC sponsored the food for the sessions, Agape sponsored the venue and HoA sponsored the accommodation so a great team effort and social spirit. Here is everyone proudly displaying their certificates:


Other snippets of news:

  • The building works continue on at a good pace with tiling and plastering of inside and outside walls. We still need to raise an estimated R60,000 in donations to complete all the works and be able to start using all the new rooms.
  • We are getting assistance from Hands on Africa for items like beds, wash basins etc which they will being from Cape Town to furnish the new building - another reason to thank them.
  • Mr Donald Smiles, retired teacher and Emmanuel board member, is giving extra tutoring lessons to the children on a weekly basis, including Maths.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Hands on Africa Holiday

Recently some our children returned from a visit to Cape Town where they were hosted by Hands on Africa. The children were able to experience many new things and it will long live in their memories. We've taken the liberty of sharing Hands on Africa's newsletter on the children's visit. We are so grateful for the experience that everyone shared and the kindness in all of their hearts. 



Here's some thanks that Hands of Africa wished to share:
Thank you to the host-parents who opened up their homes to these children: Francois and Karen Cronje; Diana and Erhardt Theart and their daughter, Jolene; Giovanni and Carminda Mangliavalli; Kobus and Nina Barnard; Carina Howard and her family; Marius and Marthe Malan; Werner and Monica Jurgens; Johan and Amelia Kroes and Charl and Corlia du Plessis. Thanks to our sponsors, the V@A Aquarium; Ster-Kinekor, Melkbos Spur and Pinnacle Marketing. Thank you to the individual sponsors, Johann and en Tania de Clerk; Jenny Bosman; Hellani Briers and Elmarie Marais. 

Thank you to Lydia du Plessis for hand knitting a teddy bear for Angel. Thank you to Erhardt and Diana Theart for driving the bus that brought the children here and back. Thank you to everyone who had us in their prayers. Thank you to the Melkbos community who opened up their hearts and flooded us with bedding, clothes, snacks, toys and clothing vouchers to be used by Emmanuel. 

Thank you to the volunteers who assisted at the outings: Nerinna Fourie, Thomas du Plessis, Dawie Albertyn, Yolande Mellet, Michelle Calhau, Lindy Hearn and Lonah Boshof. Thank you to everyone who popped in to meet the children. Lastly thank you to Bertus and Carol Deysel for trusting us with this group.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Loom Bands

Over the Xmas and New Year holiday we had some visitors from the UK who brought with them one of recent toy crazes from their country: loom bands. These colourful elastic bands provided hours of fun and concentration for the children. They quickly picked up the skills to twist and thread them, making multi-colour bracelets which they proudly wore the following days or passed onto their friends. As you can see from the photos there were some great creations.