Irish building blitz in Paarl
2009-03-26
CURRENTLY 500 Irish volunteers (300 of them women) are sweating in the Paarl heat to complete the seventh Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT) building blitz in South Africa. The building blitz in Mbekweni started last Saturday (Human Rights Day) and the plan is to complete 75 houses by Friday, when the new homes will be handed to the beneficiary families. The Blitz kicked off on Saturday with a volunteer march through Mbekweni led by Niall Mellon, the founder of this initiative, accompanied by Drakenstein mayor Charmaine Manuel and municipal councillor Arthob Petersen. Niall Mellon said that it was the first time that Irish volunteers would be working on construction teams with their own South African construction staff. “All our volunteers are extremely enthusiastic at the prospect of the challenge and are particularly excited by the opportunity to work with local artisans.” Since the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT) was founded in 2002, more than 5 000 Irish volunteers have participated in the charity’s building projects. This year’s volunteers have each raised R60 000 to take part in the “Building Blitz”. Volunteers come from all over Ireland and include people of all ages and a variety of professions, ranging from skilled trades people and executives, to nurses, doctors, accountants and even an archaeologist. NMTT operates a year-round house-building programme in South Africa, of which the annual “Building Blitz” is an important part. Now active in 23 townships, the Niall Mellon Township Trust is the largest charity provider of homes for low-income families in South Africa and has built more than 11 000 houses since its inception in 2002. This is the second time they have built houses in Mbekweni. * A tree was also planted on the site by the mayor to commemorate Human Rights Day
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