With Mandela Day held differently, the people of Missionvale have come to Missionvale Care Center on Tuesdays to show off their skills and share their resumes to show they are ready to work.
Linda van Oudheusden from the center said that it was their first exhibition of works and that they were very proud of the event.
A Missionvale resident displays baked goods for sale at the Business Fair on Mandela Day, July 18, 2023 (Photo: Deon Ferreira)
Everyone who wanted to participate was given something to do, from children welcoming guests in the car park to young adults offering to carry bags and boxes. The models displaying clothes made by local designers and seamstresses were warmly welcomed by the audience.
Echoing the old saying that if you give a man a fish, he’ll have food for a day, Sabrina Kalla, the center’s director, said, but if you teach him to fish, he’ll have food forever. lessons “.
“This is when I started to love my job a lot,” she said.
Vegetables grown in the Missionvale Care Center’s garden were for sale. (Photo: Deon Ferrera)
Craft and needlework products produced by Missionvale residents were sold. (Photo: Deon Ferrera)
The center showcased local businesses, including crafts and fashion initiatives, but also had a range of biographies of young people looking for work.
Normwell Elementary, which is based at the center, showed off the talents of their children, as did the women from the Michenville Fitness Club. The center also has a large community garden, where enthusiastic gardeners would sell their produce.
The steel band from Normuel Primary School is in action. (Photo: Deon Ferrera)
Men’s support group from Missionvale Care Center performing a song. (Photo: Deon Ferrera)
Lucky Ngamlana, who facilitates the youth empowerment program at the centre, said their main focus was the upliftment of the community.
The center was started in 1987 by Sister Ethel Normuel of the Little Company of Mary in Ireland. While living in Nelson Mandela Bay, she would tell the story of how she found herself on a hill overlooking Missionville and was shocked by the poverty. She has often described it as the moment she knew she “won’t go any further”.
She walked 45 minutes to Missionvale every day from her home. In the end, she was allowed to use a tree outside someone’s house as a shelter. Here, it began providing basic health care to residents.
The first building of what was to become the Missionvale Care Center was constructed in 1988. Normwell, a beloved resident of Nelson Mandela Bay, passed away in August 2021.
The center has its own Primary School and Nutrition Programme, Animal Health Clinic, Youth Skills Development Program and Community Health Centre. The center also hosts support groups for men and women, a craft group and a fitness group.
Hundreds of elderly people walk up to 30 kilometers a day to eat their daily meal at the centre. DM
