Two thousand Irish volunteers will set off for South Africa this week for the now annual effort to build homes for people living in poverty in the townships of Cape Town.
The volunteers with the Niall Mellon Township Trust aim to complete over 250 houses in the course of their one week ‘building blitz’, providing homes for over 3,000 people in the Khayelitsha township.
Property developer and founder of the trust, Niall Mellon, said the sixth annual ‘building blitz’ would be the largest to date.
Some 700 of this year's volunteers have taken part in the project before.
The volunteers come from all walks of life, include all ages and come from right across the country.
They include skilled trades people and senior executives, nurses, doctors, firemen and even a fisherman, Mr Mellon said.
“I am humbled by the generosity and spirit of the Irish people and in particular of our volunteers, who are the cornerstone of this charity,” he added.
“A large number of our volunteers are from the construction sector. We are deeply humbled that they have worked so hard this year to raise the target of €5,000 each. Many of these people have had a tough year personally, some of them have been let go from their jobs and despite all of this, their determination has shone through and they have worked extra hard to raise the €5000.”
Mr Mellon said the trip last just one week but it is “an incredible week for all those who come”.
“At the end of this long week hundreds of poor South African families will have homes for life when they had nothing at the start of the week."
Some 5,000 volunteers have worked on the annual building project since its inception in 2002 and the charity has built over 10,000 houses.