Food Security South Africa Project #11125

Provide nutrition for 500 families in South Africa

by Missionvale Care Centre

Project Report | Feb 24, 2016
FW: Report for Project 11125

By Linda van Oudheusden | Project Leader

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This week, a Facebook friend of mine shared this quote:

Medicine is not healthcare.

Food is health care.

Medicine is sick care.

It’s time we see it for what it is.

Isn’t this just so true?

The seemingly endless queue outside Missionvale clinic is testimony to this. It is here where we encounter devastating illness due to malnutrition. Illnesses that could have been prevented!

Despite this harsh reality, it is really difficult to market this side of our Care Centre to potential donors. It is the “not so sexy” side of fundraising, often seen as a short term intervention with no chance of ever being sustainable. It is easier to justify corporate social investment spend on more tangible items such as books or stationery for a school, and although these are obviously necessary components, no learning will take place without nutrition.

Platforms like Global Giving give us the opportunity to share these truths with the world. And it is through this platform that YOU bring desperately needed relief directly to the families most urgently in need here in the Missionvale Township.

At the moment, our country is in the midst of a devastating drought and food supply is a real concern. While we are able to import food items, the cost of this means that we are likely going to face a 30 % increase* in some food items later this year, particularly maize based products which form the staple food of our poorest citizens.

We cannot imagine things getting even tougher for the people of this community.

Thank you for believing in our work, for relieving hunger and for giving us hope. With your continued support we can face the difficult times ahead.

With love and gratitude from all of us at Missionvale Care Centre

*This means that a food parcel that currently costs us around R35 (around $2.30) may cost us R45.50 ($2.98) by the end of 2016.

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Nov 30, 2015
Missionvale Nutrition Project Report November 2015

By Linda van Oudheusden | Marketing Manager

Dear friends

Recently, a friend of ours posed the question:

“What do you do when you are hungry?”

A very simple question. Yet a thought provoking one when you compare it to the life of a person living in Missionvale.

For myself, the answer would be to look in the fridge and scratch in my cupboards. If there wasn’t much (or even not much to my liking), I have the means to drive to a shop and purchase something.

Every day we are privileged enough to start our day without much thought for those cupboard doors opening and closing and how the contents ended up there.

Our founder, Sr Ethel Normoyle, defines poverty as having no option in life. In Missionvale, there is very little option on offer. A simple question like: “Would you like cereal or toast for breakfast?” is absolutely UNIMAGINABLE here.

Every day I am absolutely overcome by the gratitude we see etched on the expressions from the people queuing for in line for hours to receive a half loaf of brown bread and a small cup of soup powder in return for some recyclable items.

As I am typing this, I hear their beautiful African voices singing praise songs and I know many of them have their hands stretched out to the sky in deep gratitude to those who make their daily nutrition possible – YOU. You are sincerely and gratefully remembered every day.

Every contribution you send via Global Giving, is transformed into meeting a very basic, but crucial need – Nutrition. But in doing so, you are also sending a message – someone cares. It would be impossible for us to convey how much this message truly means to the people on the receiving end. What we do know, is that it goes a long way to instilling a sense of dignity and pride in knowing that they still matter. Thank you so, so much for that.

We wish you every blessing this festive season and into 2016.

Links:

Our website

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Sep 1, 2015
Missionvale Nutrition Project Report August 2015

By Linda van Oudheusden | Marketing Manager

Dear friends

It is with profound gratitude that we are able to write to you with another update on our life giving nutrition programme, made possible because of your kind and generous contributions!

The Nutrition Unit is only one part of our Care Centre, yet it integrates into everything else we do: from the Primary School with its 288 learners, to our skills development programmes (vegetable gardens and craft making) and most importantly our clinic where state of the art healthcare is provided by volunteer doctors. We’ve said it so many times before: without Nutrition, no one would really benefit from any of these programmes. It never ceases to amaze us to see the difference a little bit of food on a constant basis can make. We are especially happy to see a child that was once so weak he could barely walk, now being able to play soccer with his friends! We see mothers getting stronger and being able to live longer, despite the horrific reality of HIV and Aids in Missionvale.

While there have been many successes, there have been many tragic losses too. Our school principal reported that twelve children lost their parents or close family members in 2014, and up to now, a further five have suffered this incredible loss, leaving them orphaned and vulnerable. It is for this reason that we have increased our fundraising target on Global Giving to $90 000, so that we can ensure our Nutrition Programme can continue to reach these families. (Truth be told though, while the need is this big, the project will never be fully funded!) The list of people waiting for assistance is three times as long as the people we are helping at the moment. An overwhelming thought. It is the ones that are not on the list that keep us awake at night, that prompt us to try harder, to do more, to seek more help. And it is people like you who respond to that desperate plea that make it possible for us to continue another day.

Normally we would add a few photographs to our report, but this time I thought we’d add a bit of life to them! Last week I took a walk through the Centre with my cell phone handy and I took a short video showing the work that happens here on a daily basis. To view the video, follow this link: https://youtu.be/50DmQ1EY3js I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you again! You are remembered every morning in thankful prayer by the children and families of this dusty township in South Africa!

Links:

Our website

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