Volunteers begin African ‘building blitz’

THIS morning three chartered jumbo jets took off from Dublin, and one from Shannon, to ferry an army of tradesmen and volunteers for a week-long building frenzy in Africa.

The group’s seven-day mission will be to build a record 200 houses in one of Cape Town’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

By the time the 2007 Niall Mellon Township building blitz is finished, 1,350 Irish volunteers will have provided housing for 1,200 citizens of Freedom Park.

About 200 families will move from one-room shacks to proper houses with running water, electricity and sanitation.

The Freedom Park township is home to 50,000 members of South Africa’s “coloured” social class.

Being mostly mixed-race they are classed as neither black nor white. In 1998 they won a bitter battle to secure land to establish a community but it took three years before basic infrastructure was supplied.

Director of the trust Deirdre Grant will welcome the volunteers when they arrive in South Africa tonight.

“I think anybody who has not been to a township before will be shocked by the conditions of people living in shacks. But there is the feeling of knowing that by the end of the week they will have helped 200 families finally achieve a roof over their heads,” she said.

“It is a tall order, but our founder Niall believes in pushing ourselves so 200 houses will be our target. If you didn’t have a challenge what have you got?”

However, Ms Grant said despite the seemingly frenzied pace of building the aim is to provide houses to stand the test of time.

“The emphasis will be quality, we want these houses to last. It is not a case of ‘anything is better than a shack’... we expect our beneficiaries’ grandchildren to be living in these houses,” she said.

The Niall Mellon group will target a patch of land surrounded by some development with local people looking forward to either semi-detached or detached houses.

In one week the volunteers aim to build almost as many houses as have been constructed during the four blitzes organised since 2003.

More than 80% of those involved are qualified tradesmen and will travel armed with tools and equipment required to build the new community.

Although nestled beside the coast the destination for the volunteers cannot be compared with normal holiday spots.

Everybody travelling has been briefed on the security dangers which are part of everyday life for the residents of Freedom Park.

Builders are not allowed drift off site during the day nor are they allowed hire their own cars because of a spate of hijackings in the area.

However, the most immediate fear is a weather forecast which predicts rain during the weekend which could delay the start of the blitz.

* www.irishtownship.com

Irish Examiner reporter Conor Ryan is among those travelling to South Africa and will be reporting on the “building blitz”.