Haven of Rest

Located amid sugar-cane plantations in Tongaat, the Haven of Rest is exactly what its name describes - a haven of rest for orphans, the elderly, people undergoing drug and alcohol rehabilitation, schoolchildren, and patients requiring treatment and palliative care.

This facility is housed in a beautiful 96-year old, whitewashed-walled Victorian building that previously operated as the Tongaat-Hullet Group?’s hospital for employees on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast. The hospital closed in 1990 and stood empty for 10 years until the Apostolic Faith Mission purchased the land and buildings in December 2000.

Apostle Ronnie Naidoo and his wife, Shirley, had for years desired to cater for the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of the community in the area. In fact, eight years earlier, they had offered to purchase the property but the exorbitant selling price prevented them from doing so. Today they and their small team of staff and volunteers are making their dream a reality.

The Haven of Rest is a massive faith initiative. One of the services offered at the centre is the medical facility, directed by Rev Mervyn and Mala Munsamy, operating under the name of Rapha International, which is an association of the Haven of Rest. The medical unit offers primary health care to the indigent, and Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services to all community members. It is one of the only organisations on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast that offers VCT (pre-test counselling, the rapid HIV test, post-test and ongoing counselling). Services provided include providing patients with examinations, treatment and medication for ailments, as well as offering health education and emotional and spiritual counselling.

Medical teams are regularly mobilised into rural areas where general medical, optical, dental and VCT services are made available to literally hundreds of community members over a few days. Rapha International intends to provide family planning advice and services in the near future, and to open an X-Ray unit, an emergency trauma unit and a theatre that can be used for minor surgeries. A step-down facility is also currently being registered.

In addition to the medical facility, Haven of Rest has created a Children?’s Village on the land. Abandoned boys and girls of all races are cared for and educated in a warm and loving family atmosphere. Also for children, the Haven of Rest runs a crèche and has registered a private primary school, started in 2002 at Grade 0 Level and catering for the educational and spiritual needs of young children.

The Haven of Rest?’s Old Age Home responds to the needs of the elderly, giving them love and the reassurance that they can be and are significant role players in society.

Attached to the Haven of Rest is a crisis shelter for rape victims, abused and HIV-infected people, who fear ?“breaking the bubble of silence?” in which the trauma they are experiencing is enveloped. This shelter, called the Hope Centre, has networked with the SAPS and Tongaat Crisis Care Centre to offer refuge and counselling for people in dire straits. It encourages, uplifts and instils hope in those who fear stigma and discrimination based on their personal situations.

Finally, the Haven operates a rehabilitation centre as a retreat for people in distress. For a myriad of reasons ?– unemployment, drug and alcohol dependence among them ?– many people find themselves cast out by society with no hope for the future. A place of refuge can be found at the Haven of Rest, where the centre and its staff offer acceptance, healing and time to rehabilitate. Residents live at the centre temporarily, in most cases for a month, and here they have a quiet space to regain the sense of peace, balance and hope that they may feel has eluded them.

Tongaat means ?“a little place of importance?”. The Haven of Rest is a not-so-little place of great importance, not only for those who use the services offered by the facility, but also for the generous and willing complement of staff and volunteers who dedicate themselves to the running of the facility. When I asked Rev Mervyn how the centre survives on the sporadic funding obtained here and there, month-to-month, through the efforts of various churches, para-church organisations, welfare bodies, politicians, private persons and some businesses and NGO?’s, he replied simply: ?“God will provide?”. Faith like this can surely move mountains.

For more information on the Haven of Rest, or if you would like to support their work, please contact:

Medical unit and VCT: Pastor Mervyn Munsamy, Tel: 032 9448904; Fax: 032 9441072 or Email: [email protected].

Children?’s Village, Old Age Home, Hope Centre, Crèche, Primary School, Rehabilitation Centre: Apostle Ronnie Naidoo, Tel (032) 944 6364 or Fax (032) 944 1072.