LEIGHLINBRIDGE local Siobháin Lawlor recently travelled to South Africa with the Niall Mellon Township Trust.
After fundraising tirelessly and receiving phenomenal local support, Siobháin jetted off before Christmas, along with over 600 other volunteers.
Here, she recounts her experience:
“Volunteers from all over Ireland departed from Dublin Airport on 11 November at mid-day and took the 12-hour journey to Cape Town. We arrived in the South African city the following day at 6am, and despite the long journey, we were exhausted yet full of energy and ready for work at 2pm. The building of the houses began and it was all go from then on.
“We were separated into different groups and I was on the emerald team. To see the conditions people were living in was utterly devastating. The exterior of a shack was four sheets of galvanise, a sheet of plastic for a roof and inside a cardboard for walls and floors. It was roughly 10ft x 8ft, the size of an average bathroom, and the shack we visited had four people living in it. Two people slept in the bed and the other two slept on the floor.
“When we asked, they told us they had been living in that shack for seven years.
The shacks were prone to fires, which made life more terrifying. There was no electricity, no running water and one toilet for every 35 families.
“On our last day, we had the opportunity to hand over a house to a family.
The woman who received the house had five children and no husband or partner to support her.
The woman was so overjoyed with her house of two bedrooms, a bathroom and kitchen/living room. She was amazed that she had lights in her home.
She dangled the keys of the house in front of us all with a huge smile across her face.
Not only was she crying with happiness, but 55 emeralds were too!
“It has to be said that if we thought our country was bad, open your eyes, because there’s a whole different world out there. It has been the best experience of my life and there’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve made a difference.
One week: 600 volunteers, 160 houses – an experience of a lifetime. And a huge thanks to everyone who supported my fundraising for the trip.”