Ebenezer Psychiatric Home overflowing with creativity and entrepreneurial spirit
To help raise funds for essentials at the home and new art materials, the creative residents at Ebenezer Psychiatric Home have put hours of hard work into creating stunning hand-made gifts to sell, just in time for the festive season.
Ebenezer Psychiatric Home is a Witpoortjie-based rehabilitation and care centre for mentally ill adults.
The non-profit organisation (NPO) aims to love, care for, and uplift the residents in their care who have often been shrugged off by other people due to their conditions. The residents have all been diagnosed with either Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia and cannot afford private health care. For most of them, their only form of income is their small, monthly disability grant from SASSA (the South African Social Security Agency).
Even with all the triumphs in the way people think, there is still a massive stigma surrounding mental illness and an even bigger misunderstanding into exactly what a mental illness is. Conditions such as Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia are not only very difficult for the patients to deal with, but also for their loved ones. Many of the men and women who seek refuge at the haven do so because their families cannot cope with their illness, and some have no family at all, so they have nowhere else to go.
At the home, the residents are in a supportive and nurturing environment, where trained and dedicated staff members help them get through each day with exercise regimes, skills development, creative and practical workshops, medical treatments, and so much more.
The home relies on monthly bed subsidies paid by the Department of Health, as well as fundraising initiatives and donations to care for their residents. So, as the festive season draws nearer, the staff and residents saw an opportunity to raise some much-needed money for the home.
Through their creative workshops, the residents of the home have sewn, painted, mosaiced, and beaded some amazing Christmas gifts which they will be selling. From jewellery, candles and wire wine bottle holders, to paintings, table cloths, and ornaments, you are bound to find the perfect hand-made gift for one of your loved ones.
While the money raised will be allocated to the various expenses the home has, most of the money raised will be used to buy more art supplies so the residents without day jobs can stay busy and express themselves creatively.
If you would like to buy one of these beautiful gifts, call 011 955 6595 and visit Ebenezer Psychiatric Home at 5 Ham Street, Witpoortjie or contact the home’s Director, Charmaine Hennings, on 082 434 7235. Alternatively, contact Brett Marais, the Events and Fundraising Coordinator for the home on 073 365 4092.
