The Niall Mellon Township Challenge 2005

Paul Hurley from MarketBuild took part as a volunteer on the 2005 Niall Mellon Township Challenge. The aim of this challenge is to replace the wood and tin shacks of the Imizamo Yethu township near Cape Town with solid concrete built homes.

The target this year was 100 homes to be fully completed over 2 weeks by 700 Irish volunteers. That target was surpassed despite a storm in the first week destroying 70% of the first 3 days work. The final number of completed homes was 106.

Paul took part in the first week of building where 58 homes were completed against a target of 50. Here are some his observations from that week:

‘It was a roller coaster of a week. I was anxious at the start as there was so many different things to take in, the physical work, the emotional impact of the surrounding environment, the beautiful smiling children everywhere, the visible effects of HIV and AIDS, and the heat.
I was very lucky with the crew I was assigned to. There was John Molloy from Navan, his friend Rick Donlon and Rick’s father Jim, Big John from Wexford all brickies, and my fellow labourer, another John from the midlands. Also at hand were the carpenters, Seamus, Barry and Brendan.
The work was hard but in between the building site craic, the lunchboxes and regular water deliveries from Christy, Caroline and Mona kept us going.

At the start of the week our crew were averaging a house a day up as far as roof level, this all changed on Tuesday morning when we saw the devastation from the storm the night before. This was soul destroying but we had no option but to clean up the mess and start over. What was remarkable about this day was the way the locals accepted the damage, we were taken aback but they carried on silently, cleaning out their shacks and rebuilding them. It transpires that this is a regular occurrence with families having to move in the night and return the next day to rebuild a blown down shack. No resentment just resignation to their way of life.

For me this was the turning point in the week as my own tiredness and backache just disappeared as I drew inspiration from the inhabitants of Imizamo Yethu . We really should not be complaining as much back home!
Our version of ‘nothing’ would be paradise for the people we met.
Another key moment was the visit to the local national school in Oranjekloof. The kids were really great. We met with the principal, Enid Davis and got a run down on the history of the school and the great challenges they continually overcome. Rick Donlon and John Molloy had brought over a number of gear bags full of crayons, colouring books and toys. The kids were genuinely appreciative of these items. The startling realisation of this trip to the school was that for the price of 3 or 4 pints of Guinness back home, a child would receive a full years education. So every cent donated really has a tangible impact.

So at the end of the week, we worked half of our day off to make up the lost ground from the storm. It was worth it as we left Imizamo Yethu for the last time on the bus back to Cape Town, there was a sense of satisfaction as I glanced back the road and I could see the red roofed concrete houses span out across the township visibly replacing the shacks.

I could go on forever but I’d like to conclude by saying a real genuine thank you to everyone who supported me financially to make this trip possible. I promised I’d bring back a photo of the house you built. Well actually your contributions helped build 6 homes. The picture gallery attached will give you some idea of the difference you’ve made to peoples lives.

For more information on the volunteer week 2005, check out www.irishtownship.com

Thanks again to everyone.’