The Elim Residential Home had been the vision of Paul Langeland-Hansen, the father of the late F. Langeland-Hansen.  An amount of R10 000 was earmarked towards this project.  Unfortunately, Pastor Paul Langeland-Hansen passed away before the plans for the Home was drawn.  It was his son Pastor F. Langeland-Hansen who was instrumental in coming up with the plans and initiating the project.  In 1994 Pastor F. Langeland-Hansen also passed away, only a year before the first phase of the Home was completed and ready for occupation.  However, he has laid the groundwork for the Home.  Pastor David Nadesan had become the new Chairperson of the Bethshan Group of churches after the demise of Pastor Hansen and had brought the construction of the Home to completion in 1995.

The Home was opened to the first set of 8 residents in September 1995.  Together with Pastor David a committee was elected and were responsible for the running of the Home.  In 2006 the second Phase of the Home was erected.  This enabled the Home to accommodate 20 residents.  A communal lounge was also erected for the residents to meet and have activities or a meal together.

The Home was registered as a Residential Home to accommodate able bodied persons over the age of 60.  The aim of the Home is to provide affordable accommodation to the Aged that is suited to their need and to give dignity to them in their twilight years.  The Home also provides other essential services to the residents including spiritual counselling, pastoral care and prayer.  Residents were encouraged to fellowship at Berea church and had become members of the church.  They were also given opportunity to be part of the church ministry.

With the passing of time, some of our residents have become frail.  We had not anticipated this initially and it had become a challenge for the organisation to handle this situation.  Some of our residents are wheel chair bound and others are incontinent.  It places a huge strain on our human and financial resources.  Attempts to place them in other institutions have not been successful since many of the Homes in Durban are full to capacity. Family members of the residents in question have also shown little interest in their parent once they are placed in a Home. 

In 2017 a new Management Committee had been elected under the Chairmanship of Desmond Moodley from Berea.  This committee is determined to find innovative and cost-effective ways to run this Home and to make changes that would benefit the Home and its residents.  The Pastors and Leaders of the Branch churches remain the Trustees of the Home.

In order to keep its door open, the Home needs to have enough funds to meet with its ongoing expenses:

• Electricity and Water

• Maintenance

• Cleaning and Gardening

• Repairs

• Administration

The residents are charged a minimal monthly rate of R900.00 p.m. and we have two major Fund-Raising Projects to meet with the short fall of our monthly expenditure:  The Annual Charity Golf Day Event and Our Annual Banquet.  We do receive donations and sponsorships from a few companies and individuals.  Recently we had received sponsorship from some of our Branch churches as well. 

We do have the following projects that requires a substantial amount of money:

• Erection of Ensuites in each of the Units as opposed to the communal Bathrooms that they are presently making use of.  This will ensure that our residents live in dignity.

• Uniform Furniture and Fittings for each of the residents.

• Harvesting Water in Jojo Tanks and supplying to the ablution and washing facilities to ensure that our municipal charges are reduced.

We therefore appeal to our Branch Churches, individuals, companies and organisations to make a contribution toward this Home, which is the only one of its kind in the Northern Region of Durban.  The demand for residential care among the elderly is increasing considerably and we would like to accommodate as many as we could, but we are constrained by resources.  Your help will go a long way to enable us to complete these projects for the benefit of the elderly of our community.