Volunteers for South Africa Needed

Irish Voice News

Volunteers for South Africa Needed

May 15, 2008

By April Drew

IRISH property developer Niall Mellon has launched a campaign to recruit volunteers from all over the U.S. to join hundreds of Irish people in a housing building program in Cape Town, South Africa from November 28 to December 6 this year.

The aim is to bring over 2,000 volunteers from the U.S. and Ireland to the Khayelitsha township, located approximately 25 miles outside Cape Town, and together they will build more than 250 houses, a community center and a garden of hope.

“We’re thrilled to partner with our American friends to recruit U.S. volunteers to join the Irish in our biggest Building Blitz yet,” says Mellon, founder of the Irish-based Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT). “This is the largest volunteer effort in our history and it stands as a major milestone in providing low-cost houses in South Africa.”

Khayelitsha is one of the youngest and biggest townships in the Cape Flats area. The Blitz, which is in its sixth year, will take place at the overcrowded Site C, the oldest part of the township with only a few decent houses in the area.

After the volunteers go home, township residents who have graduated the NMTT construction trade-training program will build an additional 550 houses over the course of a year.

“We’re looking for people who want to change the lives of hundreds of South African families forever,” says Mellon. “If you can’t come, maybe you know someone who can ... a sister, a brother, a work colleague. Please help us spread the word because we need your help to recruit volunteers.”

To date, a total of 1,800 Irish volunteers have already signed up for the Blitz, including 710 “veteran” volunteers who participated in past efforts. Some 1,300 volunteers are trades people representing a wide variety of skills from carpentry to block laying.

Paddy McGuinness, worldwide CEO of the Niall Mellon Township Trust spoke to the Irish Voice from South Africa on Tuesday.

“In a sense American philanthropists have shown the way for Irish people to get involved, and there has been a strong link with Niall since the very beginning of the organization to emulate what American philanthropists have done, particularly the Irish American philanthropists for Ireland,” he said, explaining that is was from this that the organization decided to expand its wings and invite Americans to join them in building homes and futures for those living in South Africa.

Dylan Hoffman, a 2007 volunteer from New York, told the Irish Voice that the experience in South Africa changed his life.

“Words can’t describe how I felt. It’s life changing,” he said.

No stranger to hard work, Hoffman explained that the volunteers spent the first four or five days working very hard to get the houses up.

“It was very labor intensive but at the end of the week when you hand over a key to a family who have been waiting 18 years for a house. It is the most amazing experience ever,” Hoffman said.

Although it is mainly trades people that NMTT are looking for, hundreds of others varying in ages will travel to Cape Town to help with a slew of other important duties. Hoffman’s mother will join him on the trip this year.

The organization is already planning a March 2009 trip, which they hope, will also consist of volunteers from both Ireland and the U.S.

Since 2002, NMTT has built nearly 5,000 houses in 10 townships in the Western Cape and 13 townships in Gauteng, with 21,235 township adults and children moving into new homes in 2007 alone.

The organization also works alongside the South African government to install running water and sanitation facilities and to provide children with a safe place to study and a dry place to keep their schoolbooks and uniforms.

Many elected and government officials welcome the effort to bring Americans on board, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

McGuinness, who was acting deputy CEO and director of external relations of Concern Worldwide, Ireland’s largest NGO working in over 30 countries in Africa and Asia, said that the relationship between NMTT and the African American community is very strong. “We have great support in the U.S,” he said

To participate in the program, each volunteer must raise $8,000, which covers flight, accommodation, and construction costs for the houses. The Township Trust covers administrative costs.

To learn more about the Building Blitz, visit www.youtube.com and type in “Niall Mellon Township Trust.” Also long onto www.irishtownship.com.

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