Missionvale Care Centre

Serving the Missionvale township of Port Elizabeth, South Africa

About us

The Missionvale Care Centre is an interdenominational non profit organisation operating in the extremely poor township of Missionvale in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It was founded by Sister Ethel Normoyle in 1988. It has grown into a centre which provides love and care for the poor and destitute, with particular emphasis on those living with HIV/AIDS.

Mission
Deliver through partnership the greatest level of care, well-being and accountability to every stakeholder

Vision
Missionvale Care Centre is at the heart of a sustainable and harmonious community with access to health, wellbeing and educational services delivered with love and care that will empower and enrich the lives of local people.

Our services.
• School: Normoyle Primary School is an independent community school that believes in teaching whole life education as a vehicle for community transformation and upliftment. While the main focus is on children, the school also focuses on equipping parents / guardians as well as youth and adult basic education.
• Child support and development program: Our after-school program helps provide children a fun, safe and enriching alternative to life on the streets after school with the goal to strengthen their ability to face the harsh reality that has been dealt to them. In addition to educational and sports activities the children receive a sandwich and juice.
• Adult skills development: Just as we strive to give children the basic skills they’ll need to lift themselves out of this poverty, we also provide adult education and skills development programs including vegetable gardens and crafts unit.
• Community gardens: The Community Gardens provide a wonderful opportunity for people of Missionvale to learn a new skill while producing a variety of vegetables. The gardeners are provided with their own garden plot, seeds, fertilizer, and the necessary tools and water to maintain the garden. Many of the gardeners take their harvest home to their family while others produce enough to donate to our Nutrition Unit. In addition to our communal garden on the Centre´s premises, we have started vegetable gardens in the township.
• Crafter´s unit: The ladies of the Crafters Unit work very hard every day on a variety of projects including curtains, placemats, hand bags, aprons, pillows and more. These items are then sold at the Missionvale Care Centre as well as at market days held at the Centre.
• Medical unit: The objective of the Medical Unit is to serve the patients in Missionvale by providing direct access to the services of a volunteer doctor and our registered nurse. Integrated into the Medical Unit is our pharmacy. From here we dispense medication to our patients under the supervision of a qualified pharmacist. Once a week our Nursing Sister runs a Women’s Clinic. We also have physiotherapists volunteering every Thursday.
• Eye clinic: A volunteer optometrist visits the Care Centre once a week providing optical examinations and helping to provide the people with glasses when necessary.
• Community Health Practitioners: These dedicated ladies are sent for training in Home Based Care and have become role models in the community. They are divided into 5 groups: Health Promotion; Home Based Care; Orphaned & Vulnerable Children support; Environmental Team; Agricultural Team.
• Nutrition & wellness unit: This unit serves 400—1000 people per day with bread and soup, in exchange for recyclable items. In addition it caters for families in dire need with a weekly food parcel and provides nutrition to patients from the clinic.
• Clothing warehouse: The clothing warehouse stores shelves of gently worn clothing which we distribute to families on a regular basis. Any donated clothes are cleaned, sorted, matched, labeled and stacked according to gender and size.
• Church and community hall: Built in 2004 the Community Hall is a wonderful gathering place for the people and it is in it that they celebrate the special occasions of life i.e. weddings, funerals, training and uplifting programmes.

Linda van Oudheusden is the Marketing Manager of the Missionvale Care Centre.

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information and establish new contacts in the field of our work.