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.

September Progress

We're happy to share below some more photos of the building work. The work continues at pace and it's very exciting to see the progress toward expanded facilities for the children including 6 additional new bedrooms, a bathroom with 4 showers and new large recreational hall. We recently had a donation to contribute to the roof do that will be the next stage of building. Any donations for finishing the building and decorating would be gratefully appreciated - please get in touch.

In other news, Sister Arendz from Huis Karee is visiting the home on a monthly basis to present in-house training for the staff about general hygiene, self care for the care worker, handover procedures, basic first aid, etc.

Sanmari Groenewald started music lessons on a weekly basis with the kids, she starded off with the recorder, basic music reading, will move on to guitar lessons and drum lessons later. Her mother Nelia assists. The older children aim to perform in public and also take their gumboot dancing to the next level. The boys already performed successfully at Agape church and are practising now for a street show. We need funds for overalls and white t-shirts for their dancing outfits.

Xmas Memories

One of our highlights from the festive period was a Xmas play that our children put on at the old age home in Midros. With our care workers, Martha and Dollie, helping organise them and prepare the play, the children put all their effort into putting on the entertainment for residents of the home. It was so nice to watch and well appreciated! Here are some photos... 

Tea Mornings and Birthdays

The Emmanuel Ladies Morning Tea was hosted on 21st October by Karen MacEwan; it was a huge success and the first of many more to come.. We are grateful for funds that came in and to Karen for hard work and the fact that the care workers of the home were spoiled with lovely treats. Thanks to the Desert Inn for opening their hearts and home to us, and for all the helpers and donors that assisted Karen in the event.

Three new children joined us last month: Renier who is 14, 2-year old toddler Kelvin and baby Olwani who is 4-months old. As well as new arrivals, we have been celebrating some birthdays: Clayton turned 21 on 1st November: congratulations to him and on the birth of his son in September this year. Clayton is working and now living with his new family, we are proud of him and he is doing good since he 'graduated' from the home. We also celebrated Ronaldo's 11th birthday and Veronica's 14th birthday - happy days as the photos show:

Zoleka Naleni started as a third care worker. With her joining Katy and Martha, we now have cover for the morning, afternoon and night shift. We welcome her as part of our family.

We are aiming to starting a Community Outreach program during the December holidays called "Project Clean Up", where our children will participate in helping to clean areas blighted by rubbish around Midros and Middelburg. They will also help make other children from the community aware of the problem and get them to take part so we will have a big community 'team' working together on it. We will hand out leaflets in order to make the adult community aware of this problem too. We will have permission from the Council of Midros and M/B to run this activity and we hope to continue it throughout 2013. We are applying for funds in order to keep this up e.g. paper for printing, petrol for transport, casual labour or people to help on this project. We think this activity is important because we want to educate the children about keeping a clean environment and the benefits of this. We want everyone in the community to have pride in their surroundings.

Other updates: the Seventh Day Adventist Church donated two computers to the home, which we will use to start IT lessons for the bigger children as soon as we get the volunteers to do this. Veronica will be visiting a hair salon during the December holiday, she will work and learn for a week the skills and art of hair braiding as this is a passion.

More Progress

Thank you to all the people and organisations that have supported the Emmanuel Child & Youth Care Centre (ECYCC) in recent months. As always we are grateful for their kindness; we have more updates to report on:

The wood floor in the TV/playroom is now completed. This is a huge donation by an anonymous sponsor. We are most grateful for their generosity. It does not only look clean but gives an atmosphere of light and space.

Nienke, Youth Worker at Middelburg High School, collected and donated some much-needed items for the children. Amongst these were tin foods, cereals, soup mixes and other. We also had some children from the school come to work in our garden for a school project - it was nice to have someone help in this space!

Two German volunteers, Sarah and Verena arrived at the centre in August. We feel blessed by the talented women whom not only brought their love and care to our children but also volunteers their time and knowledge in order to help with study times. Ashley is progressing with his maths where Hendrico and Veronica developed a love for reading. Sarah will be leaving for Germany on Saturday 15 September, where Verena will stay on for another 4 weeks.

All the children are doing well, mostly looking forward to summer. Angel who is mentally challenged, had a ear and throat infection, but she is doing much better after medication. Angel attended The Ark (School for the disabled) but recently started to attend Bennie Boekwurm Play School on recommendation by the Social Worker of the ACVV. She loves her new school, especially the activities and programs they are running. 

Carol and Martha attended and completed the final application workshop for the Creative Arts in Psychosocial Support. The Fire Maker Workshops were over a period of a year and were very useful, we learnt more about ourselves and to deal with children from many different backgrounds. We will continue to have a support group over the next couple of months in order to deal with problem areas concerning the children’s psychosocial progress.

Caregivers, Martha, Katy and Carol, started a study group amongst ourselves, working through the “Amos, living and farming God’s way” handbook. The main purpose is to uphold a better life and to achieve better problem solving skills. Happy caregivers are healthy caregivers.

Our wish list for coming months consists of: 

1. new pair of school shoes for each children for the summer
2. toys and games for the playroom
3. cash towards a trip for the children for the upcoming holiday
4 a DVD player as our current one is now broken

Other much needed items for the home: Cleaning materials, bread spreads, maize meal, fresh fruit and vegetables, toiletries (soap, toothpaste, Vaseline), tea and juice will also be more than welcome. Donations in the form of cash, towards the running costs of the home will be much appreciated.

We will be happy if any kind donors can assist in any way.

Rest in Peace Jackson

Emmanuel Children's Home lost a dear friend when Jackson passed away last week. Jackson has been working at the home since it started and we will never be able to replace his contribution. His loss is especially hard for the children who have all grown up in his caring hands, felt his love and compassion, and learned from his humble example. He was always a kind listener, offering help and hard work without prompt, giving advice and reassurance in hard times, a vital and respected link to the community of Middelburg. We will never forget these gifts he gave us and he will live on through the children whose lives he touched.

Under New Management

Carol and Bertus Deysel are the new managers of the Emmanuel Children's Home. As of 1st July 2009 they take over the running of the care home which was originally setup and supported by the Dianne Lang Foundation. They say "our honest purpose and vision is only to be there for the children, to love and care for them as best we can, and to provide a safe home for the vulnerable children of Middelburg to find refuge. We intend to continue the dedicated efforts of Dianne Lang and we commit our lives to improving the children's quality of life".

Click on the new family photo to enlarge...