The countdown begins, with less than one month to go for the largest voluntary mission ever to leave Ireland with the Niall Mellon Township Trust Building Blitz.
On November 28, men and women from around Ireland will set off to South Africa for the largest ever Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT ) building blitz. The 6th annual Building Blitz will see Irish volunteers building a planned 250 houses in Khayelitsha, a township in Cape Town. This year, there are 48 volunteers from Westmeath taking part in the building blitz, the largest group ever to travel from the county.
This building blitz is part of an annual one-week volunteer trip organised by the Niall Mellon Township Trust and has been growing steadily since its inception in 2003 when 150 volunteers built 25 houses in the Imizamo Yethu township. Now active in 23 townships, NMTT is the largest charity provider of homes for low income families in South Africa and has built more than 10,000 houses in the last two years.
The houses built provide homes for thousands of impoverished families, moving them from one roomed shacks to two bedroomed homes with a kitchen and bathroom, running water, electricity and sanitation.
On November 28, the 1597 men and 411 women from across Ireland, including 48 from Westmeath, will fly to Cape Town for a week-long intensive building campaign. Each day, 40 coaches will depart Cape Town with the team of volunteers and travel the 30 kilometres to Khayelitsha, a township with over one million people living in it. Here, the volunteers will be divided up into 29 teams and complete the building of 250 homes. If the aim is met, 250 families, made up of more than 1,250 people will finally have a proper place to call home and a safe and warm environment to raise their families.
Each of the 2,008 volunteers had to raise €5,000 in order to make the trip to build homes in the largest township in Cape Town and the third largest township in South Africa. Niall Mellon, founder of the NMTT said, “This year will be the biggest Building Blitz in our history and it will be the largest volunteering mission to leave these shores. Every individual will make a difference for those living in poverty; multiply this by 2,008 volunteers and you get some idea of the potential we can achieve”.
