I just found this video on youtube and it explains the NMTT fully.
It's 10mins but well worth a watch if you're interested.
6.12.07
4.12.07
Day 1 - Getting There
This is a review of the week from my sofa at home again, hopefully I won't leave too much out...
Here's the link to the NMTT website if you're interested: http://www.irishtownship.com/
Friday 2nd November 2007 -
Ciarán and Moe left me to the airport after a few drinks to see me off. Check in was scheduled for 3.30am and the airport was jammed. People all around me wore their name tags with various colours and numbers of stars. Most of us were one stars though, on our first, if not last, trip to build in the townships of South Africa.
The lads waited with me for ages but had to go home in the end as they were both wrecked and so I was left to make my way with the rest of the crowd to embark on possibly the most extraordinary week of our lives.
Our flights were scheduled to depart at 6am, 6.30am and 8am. However, delays ensued and our flight (the 6.30) eventually left the ground at around 8.30am.
What a flight..!
Some 17 hours later we landed in Capetown. Our one hour stop-over in Ghana turned out to be a 3 hour wait on the plane in sweltering heat with the only available water hot enough to make tea with...
But we made it, eventually. Niall and his crew were waiting for us at the airport and he greeted us all individually by name, it was the first time I'd met Niall and I was really impressed already. He'd waited for us for almost 5 hours at the airport when he could easily have been at home doing all the last minute preparations that lay ahead of him.
At 4.10am local time I finally got to my room, met Geraldine, my roommate for the week who'd already been to bed and who was now wide awake! Then settled down to enjoy a restless sleep for a whole 3 hours. The week hadn't even begun!
Here's the link to the NMTT website if you're interested: http://www.irishtownship.com/
Friday 2nd November 2007 -
Ciarán and Moe left me to the airport after a few drinks to see me off. Check in was scheduled for 3.30am and the airport was jammed. People all around me wore their name tags with various colours and numbers of stars. Most of us were one stars though, on our first, if not last, trip to build in the townships of South Africa.
The lads waited with me for ages but had to go home in the end as they were both wrecked and so I was left to make my way with the rest of the crowd to embark on possibly the most extraordinary week of our lives.
Our flights were scheduled to depart at 6am, 6.30am and 8am. However, delays ensued and our flight (the 6.30) eventually left the ground at around 8.30am.
What a flight..!
Some 17 hours later we landed in Capetown. Our one hour stop-over in Ghana turned out to be a 3 hour wait on the plane in sweltering heat with the only available water hot enough to make tea with...
But we made it, eventually. Niall and his crew were waiting for us at the airport and he greeted us all individually by name, it was the first time I'd met Niall and I was really impressed already. He'd waited for us for almost 5 hours at the airport when he could easily have been at home doing all the last minute preparations that lay ahead of him.
At 4.10am local time I finally got to my room, met Geraldine, my roommate for the week who'd already been to bed and who was now wide awake! Then settled down to enjoy a restless sleep for a whole 3 hours. The week hadn't even begun!
Day 2 - On site
Saturday 3rd-
Our buses left the hotel at 8am to take us to 'The Arches', a marquee set up for the week to act as our meeting point (and pub!) for the week.
Here we heard "Welcome to Capetown" for the first time of the week, listened to Niall, Hugh Brennan (CEO) and others tell us about the week we were about to embark on. They told us it would be extraordinary, they told us time and time again. But I know that I for one could never be prepared for the events of the next 7 days.
That morning on it's own was rather an experience, it was a very proud morning, here were we 1,380 people all here to do the one thing all because of one's man's mission. We all took on his mission and made it ours and we were all so very proud of each other.
After being introduced as best we could be to the task ahead and the people around us, we were sent to the 28 buses ready to take us to Freedom Park, Mitchell's Plain, an area in the Capeflats. It is a coloured township 40km outside of Capetown.
Capetown is a fantastically modern and clean city. However, the buses quickly transported us to a whole other world where all we could see for miles and miles was wasteland and shacks. Shack after shack made from whatever material was available on whatever land was available. Some were larger than others but most are little more than 3m by 3m.
When we arrived at the township the buses stopped and we joined the rest of our workmates to make the journey to site.
All along the route, it seemed like hundreds and thousands of locals had come to wish us well. Flags, posters, banners and even babies were held up to us in welcome! It wasn't sunny, it was windy and it was cold. Each idea I had about South Africa was challenged and changed by the minute.
But the smiling welcoming faces and shouts and songs of the locals all around us surprised me as much as anything. Several faces and banners kept reappearing as we made our way towards the site, they were running ahead time and time again to make sure we saw and heard them and understood how they felt. Choruses of thank you's resounded all around as we shook hands and waved - we might as well have been royalty!
And to a certain extent, that was what we were for the week. These overwhelmingly grateful people consider us to be little less than saints for the work we undertook for the week. To a family who have lived in a shack for the last ten years, we were helping to provide a way out to a safer, cleaner, warm, dry home where they could plan for a future without the real threat of fires everyday of their lives as well as all the other horrible difficulties they face on a daily basis.
So we got to site and found the containers and houses we had been allocated for the week. There were 60-70 people per team and 17 teams altogether. The plumbers, electricians and gardeners were each on a team of their own as well as most of the painters. Then the rest of us were then split into teams and given a colour. I was on the lemon team, and what a bunch of lemons we were! Some of the most fantastic people I have had the pleasure to meet without a shadow of a doubt.
So we all got stuck in, I was on container duty for that afternoon - which in all reality did not involve much graft... There were materials and tools in each container and at that point in time it was just a case of trying to figure out what we had and what we needed.
But on an average of about 4 hours sleep the night before, the work completed by everyone on that first day was nothing short of incredible.
Our buses left the hotel at 8am to take us to 'The Arches', a marquee set up for the week to act as our meeting point (and pub!) for the week.
Here we heard "Welcome to Capetown" for the first time of the week, listened to Niall, Hugh Brennan (CEO) and others tell us about the week we were about to embark on. They told us it would be extraordinary, they told us time and time again. But I know that I for one could never be prepared for the events of the next 7 days.
That morning on it's own was rather an experience, it was a very proud morning, here were we 1,380 people all here to do the one thing all because of one's man's mission. We all took on his mission and made it ours and we were all so very proud of each other.
After being introduced as best we could be to the task ahead and the people around us, we were sent to the 28 buses ready to take us to Freedom Park, Mitchell's Plain, an area in the Capeflats. It is a coloured township 40km outside of Capetown.
Capetown is a fantastically modern and clean city. However, the buses quickly transported us to a whole other world where all we could see for miles and miles was wasteland and shacks. Shack after shack made from whatever material was available on whatever land was available. Some were larger than others but most are little more than 3m by 3m.
When we arrived at the township the buses stopped and we joined the rest of our workmates to make the journey to site.
All along the route, it seemed like hundreds and thousands of locals had come to wish us well. Flags, posters, banners and even babies were held up to us in welcome! It wasn't sunny, it was windy and it was cold. Each idea I had about South Africa was challenged and changed by the minute.
But the smiling welcoming faces and shouts and songs of the locals all around us surprised me as much as anything. Several faces and banners kept reappearing as we made our way towards the site, they were running ahead time and time again to make sure we saw and heard them and understood how they felt. Choruses of thank you's resounded all around as we shook hands and waved - we might as well have been royalty!
And to a certain extent, that was what we were for the week. These overwhelmingly grateful people consider us to be little less than saints for the work we undertook for the week. To a family who have lived in a shack for the last ten years, we were helping to provide a way out to a safer, cleaner, warm, dry home where they could plan for a future without the real threat of fires everyday of their lives as well as all the other horrible difficulties they face on a daily basis.
So we got to site and found the containers and houses we had been allocated for the week. There were 60-70 people per team and 17 teams altogether. The plumbers, electricians and gardeners were each on a team of their own as well as most of the painters. Then the rest of us were then split into teams and given a colour. I was on the lemon team, and what a bunch of lemons we were! Some of the most fantastic people I have had the pleasure to meet without a shadow of a doubt.
So we all got stuck in, I was on container duty for that afternoon - which in all reality did not involve much graft... There were materials and tools in each container and at that point in time it was just a case of trying to figure out what we had and what we needed.
But on an average of about 4 hours sleep the night before, the work completed by everyone on that first day was nothing short of incredible.
Day 3 - Getting the Irish Rythm going
Sunday 4th-
Today we were all in much finer fettle. With a comparably decent night's sleep behind us and a better idea of what was to happen on the day ahead.
Today I was scaffolding with Maurice. What a job! Scaffolding was very rare at this point in the week and we quickly realised we must be creative if we were to achieve what we needed!
The weather really wasn't very nice - there was little sun, high winds and even some rain. Not what we expected at all! But we put on our rain jackets as a disguise from the other teams and set about literally thieving what pieces of scaffolding that we could and taking it back to our site!
The site is fenced in. It has to be. This is a rather dangerous township and also, because the building is so intense, it is safer for all to have the site separated. The locals now spend their time hanging out of the fence, shouting at us for our names, for any food we may have, for anything we can give them. They also shout thank you's and sing songs through the fence. The local ladies collecting the plastic bottles on site chat to us, they tell us how life is on the township and how difficult life is for them.
One lady, Faldeilah, asked me how Ireland was, what the weather is like. At this point, the sun was out and so I told her it wasn't as nice as this. I thought she would find this amusing, but rather, she didn't understand.
"Nice? You think this is nice?
When it is so windy like this and you are in your bed and the wind is blowing the sand up in your face and you cannot sleep even with your sheet up over your head, that is not nice."
What a way to shut me up...You see, these are the things that we do not understand. Really and truly, I'm not sure that I really understood until the week had to come to its end and I had seen all the facets of the lifestyle of these people and the impact that we made in such a short period of time.
By late afternoon the lemon team had a house ready for painting so we got stuck into that.
Tara, Geraldine and myself got stuck in with 'Pipi' - pronounce it how you like but we liked to call it peepee... As we battled the high winds which literally blew the paint off our rollers and tossed all our paint trays at least once, one local security guard approached Tara.
"That's my house and I wanted it to be blue!"...??? Queue panic!
Well as it turned out, next door was his and we had the blue paint ready for it. Lucky for us, because he really was not very impressed with the peepee!
It's funny really, that man was so adamant that blue was the only colour house he would live in. It seemed odd at first, I thought it a bit cheeky of him. But he wasn't really, afterall, he is paying for his house. But when you look at the shacks where he has lived for the last decade you might ask how could the colour of the house really be important to him?
But it was. What little these people have, wherever they have it, they take the utmost pride in. The children on their way to school wear gleaming white shirts, sorry to say it, but Daz wouldn't have a look in here. Everything is something here - even the bottle tops from our water bottles started new lives as washers as soon as we were done with them.
Then Sunday night was the first night I met Romaney. A friend who I'd worked with almost two years ago in Dublin while she was on holidays from college. It was fantastic to see her but I really was way to tired to have a proper conversation let alone a night out - so we made a date for Tuesday night...
Today we were all in much finer fettle. With a comparably decent night's sleep behind us and a better idea of what was to happen on the day ahead.
Today I was scaffolding with Maurice. What a job! Scaffolding was very rare at this point in the week and we quickly realised we must be creative if we were to achieve what we needed!
The weather really wasn't very nice - there was little sun, high winds and even some rain. Not what we expected at all! But we put on our rain jackets as a disguise from the other teams and set about literally thieving what pieces of scaffolding that we could and taking it back to our site!
The site is fenced in. It has to be. This is a rather dangerous township and also, because the building is so intense, it is safer for all to have the site separated. The locals now spend their time hanging out of the fence, shouting at us for our names, for any food we may have, for anything we can give them. They also shout thank you's and sing songs through the fence. The local ladies collecting the plastic bottles on site chat to us, they tell us how life is on the township and how difficult life is for them.
One lady, Faldeilah, asked me how Ireland was, what the weather is like. At this point, the sun was out and so I told her it wasn't as nice as this. I thought she would find this amusing, but rather, she didn't understand.
"Nice? You think this is nice?
When it is so windy like this and you are in your bed and the wind is blowing the sand up in your face and you cannot sleep even with your sheet up over your head, that is not nice."
What a way to shut me up...You see, these are the things that we do not understand. Really and truly, I'm not sure that I really understood until the week had to come to its end and I had seen all the facets of the lifestyle of these people and the impact that we made in such a short period of time.
By late afternoon the lemon team had a house ready for painting so we got stuck into that.
Tara, Geraldine and myself got stuck in with 'Pipi' - pronounce it how you like but we liked to call it peepee... As we battled the high winds which literally blew the paint off our rollers and tossed all our paint trays at least once, one local security guard approached Tara.
"That's my house and I wanted it to be blue!"...??? Queue panic!
Well as it turned out, next door was his and we had the blue paint ready for it. Lucky for us, because he really was not very impressed with the peepee!
It's funny really, that man was so adamant that blue was the only colour house he would live in. It seemed odd at first, I thought it a bit cheeky of him. But he wasn't really, afterall, he is paying for his house. But when you look at the shacks where he has lived for the last decade you might ask how could the colour of the house really be important to him?
But it was. What little these people have, wherever they have it, they take the utmost pride in. The children on their way to school wear gleaming white shirts, sorry to say it, but Daz wouldn't have a look in here. Everything is something here - even the bottle tops from our water bottles started new lives as washers as soon as we were done with them.
Then Sunday night was the first night I met Romaney. A friend who I'd worked with almost two years ago in Dublin while she was on holidays from college. It was fantastic to see her but I really was way to tired to have a proper conversation let alone a night out - so we made a date for Tuesday night...
Day 4 - Happy Monday
Monday 5th - The best Monday morning most of us have had in a long time!
We were up at 6am as per usual and rearing to go.
The 1,380 of us were accommodated in 5 hotels altogether. Each morning all the Cape Sun inhabitants for the week made our way to the breakfast room designated specifically for us. A wonderful buffet of local fruits, cereals and hot foods welcomed us and we all dug in to get our energy for the busy day ahead.
Painting was on the agenda again today and as soon as I got to site I made straight for our security guard's house only to find Tara and Basil painting it Pipi...A mix up in plot numbers meant that for a brief time the house was almost not blue! Luckily enough we got it all sorted out and under the watchful eye of our security guard it went from plain grey to bright blue in just a couple of hours-here it is.
In the afternoon we went on a 'shack tour'. At first I was a little apprehensive - I mean, we are here to help these people and work for them, not treat them like tourist sights. But at the same time, I didn't want to miss out on meeting these people and hopefully hear their stories. Little did I know. The photo in this blog is of a lady in her shack. In February this year her entire shack burned down, everything gone. But through the generosity of neighbours, friends and family, she rebuilt her home. Even including two windows - sadly enough, a real luxury in these homes. And now here she stands in her kitchen with all the accouterments of modern day living - including a coffee maker! She has lived in shacks for the last 10 years. Each day, after huddling together for the night for warmth, as with most other families here, all the bedding is taken up off the floor and all clothing placed in its black sack and hung from the ceiling, damp is another daily - and nightly - drudgery in the townships.
Another thing to note at this point is that all of the families in this part of the township have lived without electricity since June to ensure the safety of the construction workers on the NMTT site. The supplies here are not earthed and live wires are buried just below the surface of the sand. It is yet another daily hardship that they are happy to put up with if it means they will have real houses at the end. So even though this lady had electricity in her shack and a coffee maker she couldn't use any of it.
We met some other families also and the apprehension I initially felt was very definitely wiped away. It was sad to see the hardships that are such a part of everyday life for these people but also so wonderful to hear their thank yous and their excitement at the thought of moving into their new homes in the next week. And even through all the hardships they have endured, they have not lost their spirit and sense of selves. It made all our efforts seem even more worthwhile and put the week in context completely.
So at 5 o' clock, after cleaning all our brushes and rollers and making sure all our tools were in the containers we set off for our hotels once more to get cleaned up and head to Moyo's - a restuarant in the Spier winery outside the city.
What a night! The music was amazing, the dancing was amazing, the rhythm was unbelievably stunning! We all had our faces painted and ate stunning food and enjoyed spectacular shows from the performers. Antelope is amazing, like steak only nicer!
It was a wonderful night and we all met some more lovely people.
And I think most of us were just seriously jealous of the performances we saw!!
Day 5-The local school
Tuesday 6th - What a fabulous morning, the sky was crystal clear all over the city and we were finally in for some proper sun! This is part of the view of the city from the hotel room - Table Mountain in on the other side of the bay but I didn't get any photos.
At site work continued as usual except for a break of 45 minutes to visit the local school - Mitchells Heights. By the time our group got there it was late afternoon and the smaller children had gone home for the day. It is an amazing school. The building itself is beautiful and the principal and teaching staff were welcoming and warm women. We were taken to meet some of the classes as they studied various topics from technology to personal awareness, covering issues such as diet and food, hygiene and general health.
As we walked through the school I spoke with the principal for a few moments. I congratulated her on her beautiful school and she thanked me. She is very proud of the building and of all her pupils (her 'learners'). When I asked her what the main problems she faced here were she told me of the biggest 3. Number one is getting the pupils to the school - a lot of the older children don't see the point in going to school and so wind up spending their days in the township and often sadly getting involved with local gangs. Number 2 was feeding the children who actually do go. Her main concern was getting them breakfasts. Eating rice and soya first thing in the morning means that the children are not alert enough to learn to their full potential. And 3rd, almost as an afterthought, she mentioned that she had taken out a personal loan to buy books for the school, this is something that may be considered beyond the call of duty for a lot of prinicpals but without those books this lady does not have a school.
I understand that these are issues faced by every single inner city and disadvantaged school the world over but when you see it for yourself, the pure desire in these children to learn and the brightness in their faces, it is hard not to be touched. As we left I shook hands with one little boy and asked him his name, he spoke very softly like a lot of the children I met during the week and so I bent down to ask him a second time. I put my ear to his mouth but rather than tell me his name he simply kissed me on the cheek. What a way to melt a girl's heart! We were hurried so I didn't get a photo but his beautiful round little face has kept me smiling since. Just gorgeous.
After work on Tuesday I was invited to my friend Romaney's house for dinner with her family. She collected me from the hotel and took me to her fabulous home at the foot of Table Mountain. Her family had some guests over from London and they were all very interested to hear about what we were doing for the week. They were very interested and supportive of the charity - which was lovely to hear considering a lot of the people on our trip are immediately sure that any and all white South Africans are racist. Apartheid will take a long time to truly be left behind but if people like us coming to this country believe in it, it is even harder for it to be forgotten.
After dinner we went to the Armchair Theatre in a district called Observatory to see a Xhosa woman play traditional instruments - including a lock pin! The show was being filmed for an SABC show called Headspace. Its aims are to bring artists from all walks of S.African life together to collaborate in whatever their dicipline. It was an amazing show, the lady who performed was nothing short of mezmerising. I've taken a video but you'll have to turn sideways to see it. The other group then were a group of white guys playing a sort of slow rap in Afrikaans. It was awful! Don't think Romaney, Ryan or her family enjoyed it either! But when the Xhosa lady rejoined to the stage it was worth the wait to hear her again!
Day 6 - Imizamo Yethu
Wednesday 7th -
Earliest morning of the week, was up at 5am to go to the first township that the NMTT built in 5 years ago. We were on the bus at 6am and made the trip out past Camps Bay to Imizamo Yethu. The scenery on the way out was amazing, the coast and the beaches are just beautiful. The waves were high and there were surfers out already.
When we got to the township the place was buzzing. We went straight to the community center to meet Niall and the community leader of the township. We were then taken on a tour of the shacks first of all and then the homes that the NMTT has built there. It was nothing short of heartbreaking to see these beautiful children in their gleaming uniforms leaving to go to school, most of them on empty stomachs. Each shack is so carefully looked after and tended to. One garden which only had ivy growing in it, was so perfectly kept and obviously the pride of the owner.
The smell in the township was quite harsh. It is not through lack of civilisation but purely through lack of facilities that sewerage is such a problem. Our guide for the morning, George, told us how people use the woods up the mountain behind the township as the facilities but when the rain comes, all the waste is just washed down the hill and into and along the walkways between the shacks.
We were told again about the daily threat of fire that is part of life in the townships. Just a couple of years ago 500 homes were lost when a fire ravaged the upper part of the township.
There was no mention of the amount of fatalities after this tragedy but it seems there were very little. This is because the inhabitants are ready to run at the drop of a hat.
Grab a water vessel and run... What a way to live.
The part that truly broke my heart was the creche. One woman in a two room shack. One mattress on the floor, one sofa and one little baby bath. 15 children.
They weren't all there when we were, just 6 beautiful baby faces delighted at the sweets and lollipops we brought. To think what would happen if there was a fire here today just made me so sad for them. All I could hope for was that the NMTT and charities like it will make a difference for these babies before it's too late.
On the way back to the bus we walked through the new block houses that the NMTT built - it was so wonderful to see the difference that the charity has made, not just to the lives of the people who now own these houses but to the entire community. Through building the community centre, everyone benefits. Through building the houses, of which there can never be enough, those people still in their shacks I think gain a sense of hope that they will not be forgotten.
The one question that kept running through my mind all that morning especially was 'How do they keep going?'. What is it that stops these people from just giving up? Some days must be so very difficult; when the rain is coming in, when the baby is sick and there's no money to pay the medical fees, when the electricity is cut off...I'm sure the list goes on.
But maybe the NMTT and its contemporaries have helped relieve that somewhat.
Some day, things will change.
When we got back to site, work was well underway. I was working on the 'bakkie' for the day, which is the pick up truck. The job involved getting materials and anything else that the builders needed. There were three compounds on the site at different locations. They were all staffed by local NMTT employees and had all the extras the team needed as we went along. Doors, bricks, paint, ceiling boards, roofing packs and anything else that couldn't be carried were picked up and taken to our part of the site.
It was so incredible to see the entire site from the back of the bakkie, we could drive around once and then make the trip 30mins later and it felt like a whole other place. Houses changed so quickly, block work was still going up all over and there were no landmarks as the landscape changed by the minute.
After site I got back to the hotel, spent the usual half hour minimum scrubbing the sand and dirt off myself and got ready to head out for the night. Some local crafts people were invited to The Arches for the night to sell their wares. There were paintings and drums and jewellery and beaded ornaments. I really liked the beaded ornaments and bought quite a few bits and pieces from the lady who had made them. She told me about them and how long it had taken her to make them, most of the ones I bought had taken at least 2 hours. I wouldn't doubt it, they really were beautiful. When she added it all up, she then gave me a discount because I'm a 'sistah'...! The dreads came in useful for once!
A few of us went for dinner in the local shopping centre then and we headed back to The Arches. Romaney came too and she was a real attraction for everyone we spoke to, they were all interested to hear how she felt about the work we were doing and her lifestyle in comparison to what we were seeing on site each day.
The Arches was a great addition to the week, one guy said it was like going to a wedding every night! And it sort of was; we all wore our name badges each evening and we all greeted and spoke to each other like we were lifelong friends. There was a fantastic sense of camaraderie among the entire crew and it was great to hear stories from other teams of how the week was going for them.
Earliest morning of the week, was up at 5am to go to the first township that the NMTT built in 5 years ago. We were on the bus at 6am and made the trip out past Camps Bay to Imizamo Yethu. The scenery on the way out was amazing, the coast and the beaches are just beautiful. The waves were high and there were surfers out already.
When we got to the township the place was buzzing. We went straight to the community center to meet Niall and the community leader of the township. We were then taken on a tour of the shacks first of all and then the homes that the NMTT has built there. It was nothing short of heartbreaking to see these beautiful children in their gleaming uniforms leaving to go to school, most of them on empty stomachs. Each shack is so carefully looked after and tended to. One garden which only had ivy growing in it, was so perfectly kept and obviously the pride of the owner.
The smell in the township was quite harsh. It is not through lack of civilisation but purely through lack of facilities that sewerage is such a problem. Our guide for the morning, George, told us how people use the woods up the mountain behind the township as the facilities but when the rain comes, all the waste is just washed down the hill and into and along the walkways between the shacks.
We were told again about the daily threat of fire that is part of life in the townships. Just a couple of years ago 500 homes were lost when a fire ravaged the upper part of the township.
There was no mention of the amount of fatalities after this tragedy but it seems there were very little. This is because the inhabitants are ready to run at the drop of a hat.
Grab a water vessel and run... What a way to live.
The part that truly broke my heart was the creche. One woman in a two room shack. One mattress on the floor, one sofa and one little baby bath. 15 children.
They weren't all there when we were, just 6 beautiful baby faces delighted at the sweets and lollipops we brought. To think what would happen if there was a fire here today just made me so sad for them. All I could hope for was that the NMTT and charities like it will make a difference for these babies before it's too late.
On the way back to the bus we walked through the new block houses that the NMTT built - it was so wonderful to see the difference that the charity has made, not just to the lives of the people who now own these houses but to the entire community. Through building the community centre, everyone benefits. Through building the houses, of which there can never be enough, those people still in their shacks I think gain a sense of hope that they will not be forgotten.
The one question that kept running through my mind all that morning especially was 'How do they keep going?'. What is it that stops these people from just giving up? Some days must be so very difficult; when the rain is coming in, when the baby is sick and there's no money to pay the medical fees, when the electricity is cut off...I'm sure the list goes on.
But maybe the NMTT and its contemporaries have helped relieve that somewhat.
Some day, things will change.
When we got back to site, work was well underway. I was working on the 'bakkie' for the day, which is the pick up truck. The job involved getting materials and anything else that the builders needed. There were three compounds on the site at different locations. They were all staffed by local NMTT employees and had all the extras the team needed as we went along. Doors, bricks, paint, ceiling boards, roofing packs and anything else that couldn't be carried were picked up and taken to our part of the site.
It was so incredible to see the entire site from the back of the bakkie, we could drive around once and then make the trip 30mins later and it felt like a whole other place. Houses changed so quickly, block work was still going up all over and there were no landmarks as the landscape changed by the minute.
After site I got back to the hotel, spent the usual half hour minimum scrubbing the sand and dirt off myself and got ready to head out for the night. Some local crafts people were invited to The Arches for the night to sell their wares. There were paintings and drums and jewellery and beaded ornaments. I really liked the beaded ornaments and bought quite a few bits and pieces from the lady who had made them. She told me about them and how long it had taken her to make them, most of the ones I bought had taken at least 2 hours. I wouldn't doubt it, they really were beautiful. When she added it all up, she then gave me a discount because I'm a 'sistah'...! The dreads came in useful for once!
A few of us went for dinner in the local shopping centre then and we headed back to The Arches. Romaney came too and she was a real attraction for everyone we spoke to, they were all interested to hear how she felt about the work we were doing and her lifestyle in comparison to what we were seeing on site each day.
The Arches was a great addition to the week, one guy said it was like going to a wedding every night! And it sort of was; we all wore our name badges each evening and we all greeted and spoke to each other like we were lifelong friends. There was a fantastic sense of camaraderie among the entire crew and it was great to hear stories from other teams of how the week was going for them.
Day 7 - The last push
Thursday 8th -
Today was the last full day on site and it showed! People were putting in the last push to try and get all the houses ready for completion by the next afternoon. The work rate was phenomenal all week but there was an extra air of urgency around today.
There were no trips or visits organised for the day so everyone dug in straightaway to a full day's hard graft. My work for the day involved a bit of everything. I was painting for a couple of hours, taking care of the container, roofing (which I especially enjoyed!) and general labouring. We barely stopped all day as the sun shone properly for the second day in the week.
In the afternoon we were treated to a serenade by some local girls. They went to each team and sang - 3 or 4 songs each. That's a pretty serious gig!
You'll find the video here if you'd like to watch it. They had such beautiful voices, it's worth a listen.
After work, we all headed straight to The Arches for a team night out. The beer flowed and the craic was 90. There was a camera crew there too and we gave them an interview, not sure who they were though, never know when it might show up! Some of the guys went back to their hotels to get washed up but honestly, some of us were just too lazy! I had rubbed the sand off my face but that was as far as I got! As I leant across the table to talk to Larry at one point, I rested my chin on the bottle I was drinking out of. As I picked the bottle up a minute later I realised that there was still a lot of sand under my chin and most of it was now on the rim of my bottle - yum!
Around 11 or so I went for pizza with some people I'd met that evening from other teams who happened to be going for food. I think it was the nicest pizza I've ever had. Then I went back to The Arches to say goodnight and head back to the hotel, I was wrecked! There was no time for even showering that night, washed my face and teeth and I think I was probably asleep before I got into the bed!
Today was the last full day on site and it showed! People were putting in the last push to try and get all the houses ready for completion by the next afternoon. The work rate was phenomenal all week but there was an extra air of urgency around today.
There were no trips or visits organised for the day so everyone dug in straightaway to a full day's hard graft. My work for the day involved a bit of everything. I was painting for a couple of hours, taking care of the container, roofing (which I especially enjoyed!) and general labouring. We barely stopped all day as the sun shone properly for the second day in the week.
In the afternoon we were treated to a serenade by some local girls. They went to each team and sang - 3 or 4 songs each. That's a pretty serious gig!
You'll find the video here if you'd like to watch it. They had such beautiful voices, it's worth a listen.
After work, we all headed straight to The Arches for a team night out. The beer flowed and the craic was 90. There was a camera crew there too and we gave them an interview, not sure who they were though, never know when it might show up! Some of the guys went back to their hotels to get washed up but honestly, some of us were just too lazy! I had rubbed the sand off my face but that was as far as I got! As I leant across the table to talk to Larry at one point, I rested my chin on the bottle I was drinking out of. As I picked the bottle up a minute later I realised that there was still a lot of sand under my chin and most of it was now on the rim of my bottle - yum!
Around 11 or so I went for pizza with some people I'd met that evening from other teams who happened to be going for food. I think it was the nicest pizza I've ever had. Then I went back to The Arches to say goodnight and head back to the hotel, I was wrecked! There was no time for even showering that night, washed my face and teeth and I think I was probably asleep before I got into the bed!
Day 8 - Saying goodbye to Freedom Park
Friday 9th -
As today was the last day, most of us took the early bus out to site to make the most of our half day. There was one house that still needed to be roofed and the guys were determined to get it done.
When we started at 7am, the gable walls were square with the other two. By 8am, the scaffolding was done and last few trusses were going up. At 9am the felting was starting. By 10am the felting was finished, the sun had finally come out and the tiles were on their way. At 11.30, the tiles were well on and by 12pm, down tools time, the roof was fully tiled! It was so fantastic to see and the sense of achievement from the guys was great. We were all so proud of them and all the work we'd done all week.
At 12 it was time for us to do a final tidy up on site and do all the last few bits and pieces we could. Faldeilah and the other local ladies who'd worked as cleaners on site for the week came to say goodbye and ask us for the clothes off our backs! We did the final lunch round up where all uneaten food was gathered up and sent to the community leader for distribution. All tools and clothes that we had were added to the pile today and sent off. We took some last photographs and admired our work for one last few moments and then made our way to the Garden of Hope for the handing over ceremony.
All the colours of all the different teams t-shirts lined the walls and scaffolding and swamped the garden as we all crowded in to hear the speeches from Niall, Hugh and Crystal, Freedom Park's community leader. There was such a massive sense of achievement all around us. The locals who had been out in force each morning and evening seemed to have doubled at least and all of them waited outside the fence dying to say their goodbyes and last thank you's.
The Capetown police force had allocated 15 officers to the site for the week and one of the policewomen was on every trip I'd been on off site. As we walked out I met her and stopped to say goodbye. She grabbed me and hugged me. She had her sunglasses on but I could hear the tears in her voice. She thanked me over and over and wouldn't let me go!
The whole day was an emotional roller coaster for almost everyone I think.
We were tired in body but still running on the adrenaline of the morning's last burst. For almost two thirds of us it was the end of our first adventure and the question bounced off every wall "Will you be back next year?". We all said yes, although I'm sure there were a few who knew they wouldn't for so many reasons.
The friends we'd made and the people we'd never even met over the week surrounded us in all their glorious technicolour for the last time for at least another year. The happy grateful beautiful faces we'd seen each morning and evening greeted us for the last time. We gathered and sang Amhrán na bhFiann in the Garden of Hope and took our last photos of the life we'd lived for the past week.
We got back to the hotels in the afternoon. I was ravenous as all I'd eaten all day was an energy bar with my coffee at 7.20am. Ger (my roommate - see here) and myself got ourselves cleaned up and headed down to Capetown's Waterfront for some food and some lip balm - the sand and sun had somehow managed to dissolve my lips!
After a gorgeous meal with an even nicer bottle of wine it was back to the hotel to get ready for the gala dinner in Nederburg. It took over an hour to get there as the road was blocked because of an accident that we'd just narrowly missed. A poor woman lost her husband, her 5 month old was badly injured and her 5 year old had both his legs broken in the accident. It was a sobering thought in the midst of all our celebrations.
When we got to the winery there were fire poi dancers and drummers and a cheetah on the lawns greeting us, a far cry from the cheers and handshakes of Freedom Park!
We had an amazing meal with entertainment by singers from the school in Imizamu Yethu, we had speeches from Niall and Hugh, the ambassador from Ireland, Colin Wrafter and Mrs. Leah Tutu among others. It was all emceed by Sully Philander, a Capetonian TV and radio presenter who grew up in a township himself.
We watched a video made during the week with all the sights and sounds of the week and an interview with Niall. There really wasn't a dry eye in the house as we all gave him one last standing ovation. He is a true inspiration. The most modest, kind and compasionate man, and so keen to be sure that each and every volunteer is recognised. When we got back to our hotel rooms earlier that day we each found a laminated picture drawn by a child who would be moving into their new home soon because of our work that week. There was also a letter to Niall from Nelson Mandela that had been copied for each of us.
With the speeches then over, the dancing and chatting started. Now that the madness of the week had started to wind down, our thoughts turned to family at home. We were intent on spending one last night having some craic and ending the week in style but the conversations kept returning to wives, husbands and children! Photos were taken out of wallets and paraded around in the hotel bar sometime around 3am and then we all got our second wind! One of our foremen on the lemon team, Andy and Niall's brother started a bottle walking bet. The lads had to walk their way across the floor on a pair of beer bottles and exchange one bottle in front of them for one in their hands. A few made it, most didn't! The cheers didn't stop and by around 6am, they had gathered another 4,000 Rand for the charity.
By 6.30am I decided it was time I went back to my hotel, for breakfast more than anything else! I sat down with one of the guys for our last breakfast at 7am and then we both headed off to our beds for one last little sleep!
At 9am I got up again to meet Romaney for a goodbye coffee with her in a lovely cafe in town. I didn't see much of Capetown while I was there but it really is a lovely city. After our coffee, she left me back to the hotel and then Arthur one of our bus drivers for the week (and by far the lovliest!) took us to the airport.
I won't detail the flight but suffice to say that after boarding the plane in Capetown at 2pm, we got back to Dublin at 5am - a full 17 hours later, after stopping in Ghana once more and Alicante, just for the fun...After another hour waiting on baggage I finally got through arrivals to be greeted by a rather tired boy who'd been waiting for two hours! He said there'd been a lovely atmosphere there an hour earlier when almost everyone else had gone through to meet their families, oh well!
So there you have it, my adventure as best I can tell you!
All that is left to say is thank you all so much again for your kind support.
As today was the last day, most of us took the early bus out to site to make the most of our half day. There was one house that still needed to be roofed and the guys were determined to get it done.
When we started at 7am, the gable walls were square with the other two. By 8am, the scaffolding was done and last few trusses were going up. At 9am the felting was starting. By 10am the felting was finished, the sun had finally come out and the tiles were on their way. At 11.30, the tiles were well on and by 12pm, down tools time, the roof was fully tiled! It was so fantastic to see and the sense of achievement from the guys was great. We were all so proud of them and all the work we'd done all week.
At 12 it was time for us to do a final tidy up on site and do all the last few bits and pieces we could. Faldeilah and the other local ladies who'd worked as cleaners on site for the week came to say goodbye and ask us for the clothes off our backs! We did the final lunch round up where all uneaten food was gathered up and sent to the community leader for distribution. All tools and clothes that we had were added to the pile today and sent off. We took some last photographs and admired our work for one last few moments and then made our way to the Garden of Hope for the handing over ceremony.
All the colours of all the different teams t-shirts lined the walls and scaffolding and swamped the garden as we all crowded in to hear the speeches from Niall, Hugh and Crystal, Freedom Park's community leader. There was such a massive sense of achievement all around us. The locals who had been out in force each morning and evening seemed to have doubled at least and all of them waited outside the fence dying to say their goodbyes and last thank you's.
The Capetown police force had allocated 15 officers to the site for the week and one of the policewomen was on every trip I'd been on off site. As we walked out I met her and stopped to say goodbye. She grabbed me and hugged me. She had her sunglasses on but I could hear the tears in her voice. She thanked me over and over and wouldn't let me go!
The whole day was an emotional roller coaster for almost everyone I think.
We were tired in body but still running on the adrenaline of the morning's last burst. For almost two thirds of us it was the end of our first adventure and the question bounced off every wall "Will you be back next year?". We all said yes, although I'm sure there were a few who knew they wouldn't for so many reasons.
The friends we'd made and the people we'd never even met over the week surrounded us in all their glorious technicolour for the last time for at least another year. The happy grateful beautiful faces we'd seen each morning and evening greeted us for the last time. We gathered and sang Amhrán na bhFiann in the Garden of Hope and took our last photos of the life we'd lived for the past week.
We got back to the hotels in the afternoon. I was ravenous as all I'd eaten all day was an energy bar with my coffee at 7.20am. Ger (my roommate - see here) and myself got ourselves cleaned up and headed down to Capetown's Waterfront for some food and some lip balm - the sand and sun had somehow managed to dissolve my lips!
After a gorgeous meal with an even nicer bottle of wine it was back to the hotel to get ready for the gala dinner in Nederburg. It took over an hour to get there as the road was blocked because of an accident that we'd just narrowly missed. A poor woman lost her husband, her 5 month old was badly injured and her 5 year old had both his legs broken in the accident. It was a sobering thought in the midst of all our celebrations.
When we got to the winery there were fire poi dancers and drummers and a cheetah on the lawns greeting us, a far cry from the cheers and handshakes of Freedom Park!
We had an amazing meal with entertainment by singers from the school in Imizamu Yethu, we had speeches from Niall and Hugh, the ambassador from Ireland, Colin Wrafter and Mrs. Leah Tutu among others. It was all emceed by Sully Philander, a Capetonian TV and radio presenter who grew up in a township himself.
We watched a video made during the week with all the sights and sounds of the week and an interview with Niall. There really wasn't a dry eye in the house as we all gave him one last standing ovation. He is a true inspiration. The most modest, kind and compasionate man, and so keen to be sure that each and every volunteer is recognised. When we got back to our hotel rooms earlier that day we each found a laminated picture drawn by a child who would be moving into their new home soon because of our work that week. There was also a letter to Niall from Nelson Mandela that had been copied for each of us.
With the speeches then over, the dancing and chatting started. Now that the madness of the week had started to wind down, our thoughts turned to family at home. We were intent on spending one last night having some craic and ending the week in style but the conversations kept returning to wives, husbands and children! Photos were taken out of wallets and paraded around in the hotel bar sometime around 3am and then we all got our second wind! One of our foremen on the lemon team, Andy and Niall's brother started a bottle walking bet. The lads had to walk their way across the floor on a pair of beer bottles and exchange one bottle in front of them for one in their hands. A few made it, most didn't! The cheers didn't stop and by around 6am, they had gathered another 4,000 Rand for the charity.
By 6.30am I decided it was time I went back to my hotel, for breakfast more than anything else! I sat down with one of the guys for our last breakfast at 7am and then we both headed off to our beds for one last little sleep!
At 9am I got up again to meet Romaney for a goodbye coffee with her in a lovely cafe in town. I didn't see much of Capetown while I was there but it really is a lovely city. After our coffee, she left me back to the hotel and then Arthur one of our bus drivers for the week (and by far the lovliest!) took us to the airport.
I won't detail the flight but suffice to say that after boarding the plane in Capetown at 2pm, we got back to Dublin at 5am - a full 17 hours later, after stopping in Ghana once more and Alicante, just for the fun...After another hour waiting on baggage I finally got through arrivals to be greeted by a rather tired boy who'd been waiting for two hours! He said there'd been a lovely atmosphere there an hour earlier when almost everyone else had gone through to meet their families, oh well!
So there you have it, my adventure as best I can tell you!
All that is left to say is thank you all so much again for your kind support.
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