Saga Volunteer Travel Projects
Project Name: Community Care Support
Location: South Africa, Port Elizabeth, Missionvale
 This project supports a health and social welfare programme in Missionvale, one of Port Elizabeth’s oldest townships, with a population of nearly 100,000 people. Missionvale suffers from 80% unemployment, is ravaged by HIV/AIDS and TB, but it is also a vibrant and cohesive community.
Port Elizabeth is not only an attractive tourist city, it is also a fantastic example of the new emerging South Africa. The ANC started its struggle against apartheid here and the city was the first in South Africa to accept a black mayor. Port Elizabeth and its surrounding area is being renamed ‘Nelson Mandela Bay’ to reflect these strong local links. While South Africa is on the path towards becoming one of the power houses of Africa, the apartheid legacy remains, and there is a growing gap between rich and poor.
The Missionvale Care Centre (MCC) is busy with people arriving all day long – it is an oasis for the thousands of community members who visit, and volunteers quickly get a sense of the impact the centre has had for local people who have nowhere else to go.
MCC was established in 1986 by Sister Ethel Normoyle, who began by opening a small clinic under a shade tree. From these modest beginnings, and with much hard work and dedication, the MCC expanded into what is now very much a community within a community, and runs a comprehensive programme of services to the local economically poor. Unemployment in the township runs at a fairly constant 80% and is accompanied by the deprivations of hunger, alcohol abuse, TB and a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, this last of which affects some 60% of the population.
The latest addition to the MCC services is a Resource and Support Centre for those suffering from HIV/AIDS. The centre is expanding the MCC care, compassion and sustenance with a trained team of carers who go out into the community to the homes of those who are too ill to visit the main Centre.
There is also a rudimentary day hospice for patients needing particular care such as re-hydration and rest, and the MCC’s goal is for this new centre is for it to become a haven for people’s individual needs – from palliative care and nutrition, to solace, counselling and education. The day hospice will also be engaging more actively with the issue of orphans and vulnerable children.
If you are caring and compassionate and have the ability to adapt to difficult and complex situations, you will be welcomed by this genuinely worthwhile and forward-thinking project.
Skills needed:
As well as help with organisation and administration, volunteers’ assistance will be able to benefit:
- pre-school and primary classes for introductory education, English, care and nourishment;
- a general clinic which sees tens of thousands of babies, children and adults;
- counselling and support groups for HIV/Aids infected and affected families;
- a detox, nutrition and vitamin therapy programme for HIV/Aids sufferers;
- a nutrition centre caring for hundreds of heads of families;
- self-help projects & adult training classes to enable parents to provide for their families
- a successful community garden & provision of small family plots;
- a clothing warehouse for distribution to families in desperate situations
- a carpentry unit where woodworkers and handy people can share skills
- Small enterprise development – assisting the hand crafters and/ or carpentry unit identify and develop products, and market those products
Doctors, community nurses, healthcare (traditional and complementary) and education professionals will be of obvious assistance in this project – there is also real need for people to help with after-school activities continue the gardening work, train carpenters, share enterprise and development skills.
Recent volunteers:
Volunteers have written more effective funding proposals for MCC and trained caregivers in record keeping. A Reiki master has trained some local volunteers; a nursing volunteer also ran some of the scheduled therapy sessions, thus making it possible for the MCC’s full-time nurse to go out into the community for more home visits; an after-school programme has been designed and introduced; the community garden has received much needed input, both brain and brawn!
Dates and prices: Available throughout the year from £2599
How your money is spent:
| £215 - |
Direct expenses whilst on the project: daily transport, refreshments, orientation, regular briefing meetings. This money is used in your host country |
| £285 - |
Project management fee: project support and development work and supervision of your work, including the operational cost of staff and a 24-hour dedicated named person you can contact in case of emergency. This money is used in your host country. |
| £195 - |
Project contribution goes directly to the needs of the specific project on which you are working. Every volunteer will know, by the end of their placement, exactly how this contribution will be used. This money is used in your host country. |
| £200 - |
Placement fee covers the time involved in the matching and preparation process between projects and volunteers. This money is used in the UK |
|
The remainder of your package price covers your international flights, hotel accommodation, all meals including a packed lunch while you are working, and the services of a resident Saga representative. |
How your project contribution will be used:
Your project contribution will be used to directly fund the needs of the project, as identified by the project, to ensure its sustainability and future growth. Wherever possible, contributions will be used during your placement, and you will be involved in the spending of this money.
Examples for this project are: the funding of training courses for counsellors, the provision of essential nutritional supplements and food parcels, school and clinic supplies, much-needed files and office equipment, educational games, balls and skipping ropes.
|
