Mellon trust inspires a palace of dreams to call home

TOWNSHIP dweller Kenny Towke loves the Irish. When he met President Mary McAleese in the Áras last year she asked: “What kind of houses does the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT) build for you?”

He glanced around the president’s abode and replied, “something like this”.

To the people living in the South African slums, bricks and mortar mean a lot. Mr Towke lives in Imizamo Yetha, just outside Cape Town, where seven years ago Niall Mellon began his crusade to provide adequate housing for slum dwellers.

Since then, the NMTT, with hard graft and cash donations from Irish volunteers, has become the largest charity provider of social housing in South Africa, building more than 11,000 houses since 2002.

This week’s focus is on the township of Mbekweni, one of the most poverty stricken-townships where there is no individual access to water, electricity or sanitation.

Some 500 Irish volunteers — for the first time mainly female with 300 women volunteers — aim to build 75 houses in a week. They will also be working side by side with the charity’s South African construction staff.

Mr Towke, one of about 2,000 native NMTT staff, pondered why it has taken an Irish charity to lead the way forward in his country.

According to Mr Mellon, dealing with the authorities means walking a fine line.

“They are a proud people and we don’t want to disrespect them. We are here to support the government’s work, but have also managed to put pressure on them to reform,” said Mr Mellon.

Now, thanks to the trust’s influence, the government has enlarged the size of the houses it builds, and the subsidy given to each family for a home that is to them truly palatial.