Building Blitz 2010 a Huge Success.

750 Niall Mellon Township Trust Volunteers hand over homes to 800 People in South Africa. The bright colours of the 11 volunteer teams that handed over 140 houses to the people in the township of Wallacedene represented the joy and overwhelming elation felt by the 800 people who now have a new home.  The 9th Niall Mellon Township Trust building blitz has been a week of hard work and toil, but every volunteer from as young as 16 worked with sheer determination to ensure that each person from the township was able to put a key in their front door.  The volunteers cheered with delight as they captured the moment that would change these people’s lives forever.
 
Niall Mellon said “140 houses completed, 800 South Africans living in homes by the end of this week who had nothing at the start; as one local lady said to me ‘every time I put a key in my door I’ll be thinking about the Irish’, I cannot put into words my gratitude to all who have come and to those at home who have given so much this could not have happened without you.”

 

 

 

 

Bloggers
This year 4 volunteers are kindly blogged for us throughout the week, Paula Cullen who will be on her 5th trip, Eamon Clohessy on his first blitz from Tipperary, Derek Holcroft from Louth on his 2nd trip and Cashel Community Student, Aoife Burke who is out with five of her classmates and teacher. Join them throughout the week and see how they and their teams are getting on each day on the blitz.
To Read Blogs Click Here >>

Meet the Families
Below are two families who are moving from a shack to a home, this small synopsis will give you an insight into how hard a struggle life is in a shack.

Bongiwe Marongo, Beneficiary, 2010 

Bongiwe will be receiving a house during the Building Blitz in November.

I am 36 years old, unemployed and living in Wallacedene. I am 
married with 4 children and I have been living in a shack for the past 12 years. I earn a small amount of money by selling sheep heads (‘smiley’s’) to my local community. Life in a shack is hard, it is always damp during the Winter months and this has affected the health of my family. I don’t ever feel safe living in a shack especially at night as my shack is not secure and I worry for my family. I never would have been able to afford a proper house and I am so thankful to be receiving my very own house keys in November. I cannot wait to move into my new home and I am really looking forward to seeing the Irish volunteers arrive. I do believe that living in my new home will change my life forever.

Lindiwe Ndyamboti, Beneficiary, 2010

Lindiwe will be receiving a house during the 2010 Building Blitz and is so excited at the 
prospect of moving into her own proper home.

My name is Lindiwe, I am 42 years old and I live in a one bedroom shack with my two children and three other relatives. I have been 
living in a shack for the past 14 years. My shack leaks when it is 
raining and it is also incredibly hot during the Summer months. The corrugated iron roof flaps when the wind blows and this noise is so loud, often  I wouldn’t sleep for fear it would blow away and the noise often keeps the whole family awake on windy nights.

 

Fact File on Wallacedene

• Wallacedene has a population of 21,000 and is one of the poorest townships in Cape Town.
  The houses will be built for a community group or “project” known as Masizakhele 3.
   
• Wallacedene, an informal housing settlement was formed between 1985 and 1989 and
  some of the residents have been on housing waiting lists for fifteen to twenty years.
   
• There is severe over-crowding in the area with anything from seven to fifteen people living
  in just one shack. Levels of HIV/AIDS and TB are very high, as with other townships.

• It is estimated that one in three suffers from HIV and it is recorded that there is a
  particularly high incidence of HIV amongst children aged thirteen and upwards.
   
• Secondary School education for local children on average ends at grade 8
  (first year in secondary school).
   
• Employment centre's around hawking, selling commodities like maize; fruits and
  vegetables and even sour milk.

• There are ten churches altogether, thirteen crèches, and four schools (including three
  primary schools and one high school).