Greetings from the Middleburg Care Village! There are currently three representatives from Care Village Outreach in Michigan visiting Middleburg, including “Uncle Bob”, who particularly loves helping provide enrichment activities for the children. With 108 children and accompanying care-givers, you can likely imagine even a simple activity becomes an expensive endeavor. Funding activities is a significant challenge, as a government stipend of ~$260 USD per child per month doesn’t even cover day to day care, let alone activities on weekends or school holidays.
Children in South Africa have four school breaks during the year, which are split up differently than the U.S., as school here runs year-round (though total days in school are roughly the same). Two of these holiday breaks are coming up soon and the Care Village welcomes your help with the following activities. Please note, all of the activity fees below include all 108 children.
Sept / Oct Holiday – Loskopdam Resort
The Middleburg Care Village has previously taken a few children to Loskopdam Resort for two days, and they’d love to expand the trip to include all of the children and care-givers. Plans include lunch, swimming all day, dinner and perhaps even a bonfire in the evening with s’mores. The following day breakfast and swimming until it’s time for lunch and the drive home.
- Dormitory style housing, meals and transport: $3,150 USD
- Movie Night: Entrance fees, popcorn, dinner after and transport: $1,000 USD
December Holiday – Durban Trip to the Ocean
The December holiday is officially five weeks, though local schools tend to close early and open late, meaning the kids can be on holiday for as long as seven weeks without significant activities to keep them occupied. It has been a long term dream of the Care Village to create a holiday experience that generates life-long memories for the children, which we’re now planning to do by funding a trip to the Indian Ocean. We’re planning a five day holiday for all of the children and their care-givers with two days to play at the ocean, with an additional one day outing, and two days travel back and forth.
- Lodging: A friend is helping us to secure lodging (fingers crossed!)
- Transport: $1,500 USD
- Food: $1,500 USD
- Additional Activity: $1,000 USD
Day Trips
Typical day trips near Middleburg run about $1,000 USD for entrance fees, a meal and transport for all of the children and their care-givers. These include things such as:
- Movie Night (we’d love to do one each holiday)
- Mbidi Lion Park
- Amora Bird Park
- Zip-X Loskop Adventures
- And many more
Weekend Activities
- Middleburg Community Swimming Pool: Entrance fees & lunch: $200 USD
Please let us know if you’d like to sponsor something specific, or Donate Now to help make the vision of these special experiences a reality!