The day began with the final work to the school building being completed. The volunteers worked tirelessly to finish their duties through the torrential downpours. Missionvale in the rain and Missionvale in the sun are polar worlds apart. The rain began on Wednesday and rained continuously for three days. Flooding and mud covered the centre but even more distressing was the conditions of the shacks.

A prayer service and presentation marked the end of our stay at Missionvale. Ethel presented the volunteers with a gift and individually thanked every person for coming.

It had been a wonderful and rewarding week in Missionvale.

Slán go Foill Missionvale.

In addition to providing physiotherapy services to the locals of Missionvale (and  Irish volunteers!), Bernadette has also provided some manual handling training to the caregivers that provide services the locals in their homes.

Having spent the first three days of her time in Missionvale in the Centre that Sr. Normoyle has developed, Bernadette was taken on a walking tour of the township of Missionvale this morning.

Bernadette’s report:

Missionvale is situated on the edge of Port Elizebeth in an area that has totally inadequate soil drainage.  As we are currently experiencing our 3rd consecutive day of rain in Missionvale we spent two hours walking the muddy and flooded tracks through the township where locals live in shacks that are constructed of old galvanise, chipboard, a few pieces of wood and cardboard.

When we entered the first shack, we kept the hoods of our rain jackets up, as the rain dripped heavily through the holes in the galvanised roofs, wetting and further destroying the entire contents of the locals homes.  We were welcomed into a home by a twelve year old girl who was looking after her 38 year old mother and her one year old sister.  The mother was HIV positive and had recently become blind and bedbound as a result of contracting meningitis due to deficiencies in her immune system.  As there was no food left in the shack, the 12 year old girl was getting ready to strap the baby to her back and walk through the mud to Sr. Ethel’s centre in order to get food for the family.  This 12 year old girl was missing school on a regular basis in order to provide essential care for her mother and sister.  The lack of education that then ensues makes it impossible to break out of the cycle of poverty.

“While the cost of education may be great, the cost of ignorance is far greater”.

The difficult part for any parent, was looking at this beatiful one year old ”bonnie” baby (thanks to the care provided by Sr. Normoyle’s Centre), and try to imagine what the future holds for this child given the current situation in Missionvale township of HIV, AIDS, abuse, hunger, lack of education, unemployment and appauling living conditions.

Sr. Normoyle has accomplished so much here but her work needs to go on in order to provide a future for this bonnie baby….. and so many many more like her.

If you feel that you have anything to offer to Missionvale, please see our “How to Help” page.

The smiling faces of the children from the school looked up at the building with the guarantee they will get the education they deserve and desire. These children now have the safety of knowing that they will be educated until it is time for them to go to secondary school. The children spoke of their dreams for the future declaring they wished to be doctors, lawyers and police officers, these dreams can now become a reality.

Sr. Ethel thanked all volunteers from week one and week two and of course the people of Ireland for making her dreams for the school a reality.

If you are interested in Volunteering or wish to support Missionvale Ireland please see our How to Help page.

A mass was held at the church to celebrate the anniversary of Gerard Daffy. Gerard was amongst the first group of Irish volunteers that came to Missionvale in 2008 to build the care centre. The mass brought together the Irish and the residents of Missionvale with songs from both areas and dancing from the locals.

Bernadette Moroney gave the caregivers of Missionvale a lesson in Manual Handling. The careworkers work with very little facilities or equipment and often must lift the elderly and sick. Bernadette’s lesson thought the careworkers to lift correctly without injuring themselves or causing long term injury.

Monday began with an early start and a trip to the tree where it all began in 1988. All of this would not be possible but for Ethel’s love and devotion to the people of Missionvale. The extension of the school will give the children an education that is vital to a brighter future.

The Volunteers  started work on the roof of the building Monday, they battled gale force winds of upto 80km/h. Through the wind and the dust they worked tirelessly to ensure that the children and teachers would have their classrooms before our departure on Saturday.

Group 1 depart Heathrow for Port Elizabeth

As usual, a long flight awaited the 1st Group of Volunteers for the 2012 Project trip to Missionvale. However, they were uplifted by the amazing welcome they received from the inhabitants of Missionvale Township, on landing in Port Elizabeth, 24 hours after leaving Ireland.

After a quick familiarisation visit, it was early to bed to prepare for a 6am wake up call, and straight into construction work in the Township.

Rose is back sharing the recipe for her world-famous SCONES with the local ladies

Maria & Kathleen work in the Feeding Station

  DAY 2

Moving to new heights

Fr Seamus, celebrating his 75th Birthday, enjoys some of Rose's Birthday cake

Powers in Clarecastle was the setting for the Information Evening for volunteers travelling to Missionvale at the end of January. Group 1 will complete the block work on the 6 classroom extension to the existing primary school, with Group 2 following behind one week later to complete the roof section of the building.

In all, over 40 volunteers will make the journey to Missionvale