After months of thorough preparation more than 2,000 volunteers, including 48 volunteers from Kilkenny, are preparing to leave this Friday to work in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town, South Africa.
“This is the largest group of volunteers ever to leave the shores of Ireland, it is an historic occasion,” said Niall Mellon, founder of the Niall Mellon Township Trust.
The charity has built more than 10,000 houses since its inception in 2002.
During the week of the ‘Building Blitz’, the charity has set itself the ambitious target of completing 250 houses for more than 3,000 people who currently live in appalling poverty in the township. The ‘Building Blitz’ is an annual one-week volunteer trip organised by the NMTT, in which Irish volunteers build houses for families living in abject poverty.
The township of Khayelitsha is located some 30 kilometres from Cape Town and has over a million inhabitants. It is the largest township in Cape Town and the third largest in South Africa. The majority of residents have no access to water, electricity or sanitation and it is one of the most marginalised and poverty stricken townships in South Africa.
