Wednesday 22nd November 2006
Clem Cairns - Orange Team
It’s a bit like moving a small town 6,000 miles and setting it up overnight, this project. It’s a mixture of building site, media circus, catering extravaganza, and multinational company. The logistics are fierce. Sometimes there’s a shortage, maybe a surplus here and there, but the whole enterprise rolls and belches its way along like some benign dragon after a skin of porter. Improvisation is as ubiquitous as a rash. The energy is petrol not diesel. You can take the builder out of the building site, but you can’t reverse that. The professionals here work as if they are still on the lump sending money home from England to feed the missus and twenty kids. We are told that we are on target. Not surprising. The women volunteers have a great time. Outnumbered by what – twenty to one? The lads competing for their attention. Is that why they all seem to be in great form from morning to night? Ruth Hearns is our team leader and I don’t know what she does all day, but every time you see her she’s laughing. Two bottles of whatever that is please. After almost a working week here, it’s the daft things that stand out, like the orange team leader playing his bagpipes in the lift in the hotel on the way to bed, with a couple of trapped Japanese tourists cowering in the corner; or the half dozen lads who piled out of the bus the other night on our way to Spier for an African Evening to bundle a car that was blocking our way onto the grass verge. I’m still imagining the face on the driver when he got back to it. Imagine explaining to the Gardai that you weren’t drinking when you parked that thing. We went back to Imizamo Yethu after work yesterday. There was a drum band, a troupe of kids dancing, a thousand smiles. It was a welcome of astonishing warmth. For those of us who were there on previous blitzes a chance to see people we got close to. Kind of nice to see the houses were still standing, too.
Una Mullally
Yesterday evening, we traveled to Imizamo Yethu, the township where the builders had been working for three years previously. Before we left, there were burgers on site, which was the only sane alternative to the sheep intestines being grilled on the path (the shack where they are prepared and cooked was found burned down this morning.) The journey to Imizano Yethu traveled through some of the wealthiest parts of the city. The houses – and their security – were beyond impressive. But up in the hills, it was a different story. There were hundreds of people there to greet the busses, and children ran alongside them as we pulled up. Dancers, drummers and a band entertained the crowd, and many people – locals and Irish alike – were spotting familiar faces and sharing embraces. Myself and a couple of the other builders walked up into the heart of the township. We met a few families who moved into their Irish-built homes a year ago. One of the women lived in a shack for ten years previous to that, but her new home couldn’t be any more of a contrast. Wooden ceilings, leather furniture and framed photos of her children were all on display in the main room, and you could see by her demeanor how proud she was of her home. It revealed another dimension to this project; giving people a house is not just about a more secure roof over their heads, but it is a psychological boost and raises confidence and pride. She told us all of her five children were now in school apart from one, who was training as a civil engineer. The next morning, the red team went back to base, this time with the added bonus of a generator to boil a kettle for tea, a sorely missed aspect of the building site up until now. Myself, Mary and Bernadette were working on house number one and primed and painted it before lunchtime. After that, we spent the afternoon cleaning up the surroundings of some of the houses, and loading broken blocks, tiles and other rubbish into skips – see the way the girls always get the physical work!
Neil Shannon - Blue Team
I begin my day as usual with the lovely sound of my mobile phone alarm welcoming me in to a new day, I head down for breakfast where the usual suspects are trying to grab a quick bite before the last bus heads for the township. Celtic beat united last night so I decide to wear my Roy Keane t-shirt just to stick it up to the Celtic lads from Donegal! This morning is particularly hot and some new volunteers have been introduced to the group and we are underway.On the way out talks of the day being the hottest yet send a shiver down the spines of the more freckled members of the group! As we are greeted into the township we notice that the barbeque stalls where the local women sell their wares (barbequed tripe and other such items that I didn’t quite have the stomach for) had burnt down during the night. When I say stalls I really mean some scrap metal for roofs and bits of pallets and other material for walls. This is where the local people trade and try to earn a few rand. It was just another reminder of how unimaginably tough life can be for the people of these townships. Armed with this the group I work with begin our day. What can I say about these guys, we all met on our first day, and as I’m a stonemason at home I was teamed up with two proper bricklayers from Dublin, Keith and Emmet. Two of the soundest and funniest characters you could meet, also very patient as my block laying would be described as mediocre to say the least! Teamed up with us as laborers are Neal from Kildare an engineer and groundwork contractor, Dave from Dublin a Mechanic, Seamus from Dublin and education Administrator and last but by no means least Liam from Mayo a biochemist. This is what makes this whole week such a pleasure just working side by side with people from all backgrounds and experiences, and I have to say that the lads who don’t work in construction have given us builders a run for our money all week, on every level! and as you can imagine being the only cork man is the group the abuse I’m getting unreal! I can’t leave out the gorgeous Marguerite and Libby, these are the blue teams water babes, they’ve kept us going with water and energy bars all week. (a welcome distraction too!) But we work hard and we’ve done three houses this week, its been fantastic meeting the people and the children. They say at home you can’t surprise children any more with presents or sweets but out here a mars bar or a lollipop is like Christmas and a birthday rolled into one. So these are the ingredients that have made our group and the rest of the blue team the best team out here! And have also made this a week to remember, roll on 2007 and one thousand volunteers! Cheers!
Gerry Fennell - Green Team
Five o’clock down tools finished for the day. Then, after a quick change and a shower, headed out to the airport to meet some American supporters of the charity and greeted them with great applause and the sound of the bagpipes played by Joe McNamara. Needless to say, they were gob-smacked. Back to the hotel, quick bite to eat, a couple of drinks and off to bed for an early start in the morning. Up at six am. Quick breakfast and straight out to Mfuleni. We started working on the show-house for the green team today. We are putting in foot-paths, painting the walls inside and out (a bright green!), facia and soffet are to be put up. All hands were chipping in to get it started and it’s beginning to look like a finished house. Also took some time out to go up and get Jim-Bob in the green container something special. Jim-Bob has himself set up with a coffee machine, kettle, and a mini-kitchen. It was only appropriate that he got a bright pink apron!
