A Job Well Done!

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.

 

The Dweza family has lived in a shack for 12 years.  Father and Mother, Sipho and Bongiwe live with their four children aged from 4 – 16 who have never lived with running water, a toilet or more than 1 room in their entire lives.  The smile that lit Bongiwe’s face said it all. “I think my only complaint when I move in will be how to get my children out of the bath!  For us, the fact that we can sleep at night not worry if a fire will catch hold of our shack,  know that my children are safe and their blankets will not be damp from leaking roofs is a dream come true.”

 

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.”

 

By the end of 2010 the Niall Mellon Township Trust will have built 15,000 homes housing 80,000 people.  The houses provide not only a safe environment for families but will provide longer term health benefits and an environment to help children study.

 

Since 2002 over 13,000 people have volunteered with the Niall Mellon Township Trust and over 3,000 of these volunteers are South Africans.  The building blitz will take place in a more rural location in South Africa next year, and the charity is now accepting applications visit www.nmtownshiptrust.com

 

For Further Information:

Valerie Craigie 00 272 447 4215 (sth af. Mobile)