Health and Hygiene is a big issue on the bulding site. The township has no sanitation on the building site. The township has no sanitation so the soil is soaked in years of human waste. Anti bacterial handwashing is becoming second nature to us all. Unfortunately even this has not been sufficient to keep the dreadful deli-belly at bay and some poor unfortunates have been sent back to the hotel on the shameful diarrhea bus!

Bones are aching, heels are blistered and there are spasms in muscles we never knew existed. Even the healing hands of Willie Keane from Ballylongfin, in his efforts to soothe the tension on the bus have proved futile. Human is keeping us all going, with banter flying as why the Irish do. In telling people to bring the their rain jackets as the forecast predicted a downpour, Paddy Duffy from Derrygonnelly, Fermanagh, quipped “God I hope it snows!” it didn’t!

On Sunday we visited the township of whom we are building and met the families who will receive new homes before we leave Cape Town. The shanty town has been thrown together over the years, from corrugated iron and wood taken from broken palettes and crates, ensure the home, the tiny cramped space is sweltering in the heat, and lacks electricity and running water.

We met a woman who has been waiting for a house for fifteen years. She and her five children share a two room shack and despite the lack of space, water, electricity, money, the oldest girl has graduated in agricultural science and the younger children attend school daily in crisp pristine uniforms.
The degree of deprivation alongside the ever-smiling children has proved very upsetting for some volunteers. Emotions have been high, tears have been shed and many have taken a moment to quietly weep.
This is a deeply religious community and driving by homes we could see families dressed in their Sunday best reading their bibles. We observed services taking place in tiny dwellings, people shoulder to shoulder clapping, singing, praising god among poverty and neglect.

Turning the corner we come across some men sitting chatting and drinkingand large bottles of local brew. Its 11:30 in the morning. Further up there is  a shack full of arcade games and teenage boys. The women don’t seem to be present in any of the leisure facilities, only in carrying out the household duties of washing the clothes and cooking. The similarities with the Ireland of a not so long ago  era are obvious.
Back on site the dynamic between the irish volunteers and local workers is beginning to shift.  This is the first year where the building blitz has had this partnership approach and it is the culmination of a desire to ensure the work is sustainable and development can continue throughout the year. Initially there was a formality to the interactions, an uncertainty, a degree of intimidation even. Many of the South African Workers have limited English and few have worked with white colleagues before. We were unsure of our own roles, unclear what to expect or ask of each other. But three days on the motivations driving us all the good naturedness underpinning the week and most of all, the irish humour and insistence on having the craic alongside the hard work is impacting on the rapport. We are sign language, digging out our few remembered words of French for the Longolese and Angolan workers, sharing our food and water and finding fun in the challenges of completing 75 houses with a team of volunteers for most of whom this is the first time on site.