Care Village Outreach, Inc. was started in March, 2018.
Interest in forming a non-profit began after a church mission trip sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church of Saline, Michigan in August of 2017 to Care Village. The mission team of 27 spent approximately two weeks at Care Village. The trip was life changing for most who participated.
The children at Care Village, ages three to nineteen live in seven houses, segregated generally by gender, and age. Each house has two house parents who are responsible for the health, hygiene, care, and raising of each child. We discovered this to be a most daunting task, as most people would agree. These children come from various backgrounds, parental guardianship having been removed by the courts for multiple reasons. It is safe to say that the children come to Care Village in crisis.
Education has always been an issue at Care Village. The children are anywhere between one and four years below grade level in their learning. In some cases, children taken off the street have not attended school in many years. The children are granted enrollment in one of many different schools in Middelburg and are transported to and from school every day by multiple vehicles. The expense to Care Village is enormous. Children are often scorned at school due to their inability to catch up. In the recent past, the children were enrolled in classes of fifty or more. There was little or no chance for them to receive the education they desire and deserve.
Education is considered a privilege in South Africa and so the children invariably try to make the most of it at every opportunity until/unless they become discouraged. Given the smallest hope for achievement, the perseverance of the children is nothing short of remarkable. The children are hopeful, inquisitive, and hard working. Their dream is that education might unlock the door to opportunity for a future.
After starting Care Village Outreach, Inc. in March of 2018, we undertook three initial projects:
- Establish a school on site to help the children learn at their own pace and starting at their individual level
- Furnish the school by collecting donated goods from the Saline community and send them via shipping container to the Care Village
- Continue to organize and send teams to Care Village to offer the children love and support
We continue to keep these goals at the forefront of our efforts:
- The remedial school was restructured and renamed from “a la Maiso”n to “The Care Center” in 2022. With 25 children from pre-school through grade 6, the mission of the school remained the same, to help the children achieve to the point where they could succeed in the mainstream schools. That day has arrived and there are plans to shut down The Care Center as the children move to St. Peter’s Christian College.
- We have sent seven shipping containers to Care Village to support the staff and children.
- We have plans to send two more teams in 2023 to Care Village to continue showing love and support for the children
Since its inception in 2018, Care Village Outreach has brought multiple teams with over 85 people to Care Village to visit and work with the children and has established multiple initiatives to benefit the children. With the help of many, Care Village Outreach has brought Internet connectivity, have installed cooling units in the house lounges where the children study, renovated the swimming pool, taken the children on excursions, organized Birthday and Christmas gift giving and receiving, purchased equipment for the kitchen, purchased a new bus to take the children to school, among several other initiatives and projects.
There is still much to do to support these vulnerable and precious children and we are very grateful to all of those who have helped in the past and who will help in the future. Help occurs in so many ways, from giving of time to help with boots on the ground here in Saline, to sponsoring children for their birthdays every year, to visiting Care Village and showing the children love and care, to donating shipping container items and money, to praying for the children.
If you are interesting in supporting our Care Village children in anyway, please contact us.
Care Village holds a very special place in the hearts of many from Saline and around the country. We continue to dream big for our children and invite you to join us in any way you are willing and able.