Hopeful alternatives for teenagers in tough PE Northern Areas

Building materials needed

“Life is very tough out here for teenagers in the streets of Helenvale,” says David Hessey CEO of the Hessey Muller Foundation. “So we have harnessed the help of many compassionate people in the Port Elizabeth area to build a home for abused children, a second home for abused adults and most exciting, we are building a church hall in the Northern areas. We believe that we can offer potential gang members an alternative to violence by means of music instead.”

Emmanuel Congregational Church in Barcelona (Helenvale) has purchased land to build the new hall for youngsters and the foundations are already laid. The Hessey-Muller Foundation has secured the donation of bricks and cement to help finish the building. Materials still needed are door frames and doors, window frames and glass, rafters and roofing materials (tiles), and fencing to put around the plot.

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The Foundation will donate the musical instruments, and also lend expertise to train the youth in all aspects of music. At present all activities at the Church take place in a corrugated iron structure on the plot. WithOUT Prejudice is assisting with HIV testing and counselling. They also arrange the counselling of teenage girls to help reduce the number of teenage pregnancies in the area. The Hesssey-Muller Foundation and WithOUT Prejudice are delighted to be involved with the Church here.

Hessey explains: “We wish to be proactive in trying to stamp out gangsters by giving the youth here some alternative to gangsterism. This really needs community support and together we can make positive changes to our society. If you can help in any way, please feel free to phone me. My cell is: 0849606258.”

The two new homes are planned to open their doors in August and about 50 jobs have already been created in the field of counseling, cooking, cleaning, teaching, skill development, security, and ground maintenance.

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Anyone with any of these skills who would like to become involved can email their CV to David Hessey at hesseydavid@gmail.com or post it to him at PO Box 16571, Emerald Hill, 6011. More information on the community services is available on request. Monetary donations to the initiative can be paid directly to the Church account: FNB Cleary Park, A/no 62406914475 A/name Emmanuel Congregational Church.