Saturday 5th November 2005
Week Two of the Township Challenge 2005 is now on. Almost all of the builders touched down at Cape Town International Airport last night, with another 60 volunteers arriving early this morning. But, with the excitement of a new group there was also a sense of poignancy, as the first group of volunteers were waved off at the airport. Their efforts over the past week have been truly amazing, particularly given the adversity they faced after the storm force gales. Given that these builders had to check out of their rooms at 5am and be on the coaches to the airport by 5.15, it also seems a miracle that everyone made it onto the plane in good time.
In an ironic turn, the Challenge had its first casualty last night when one of the volunteers broke his ankle. However, this was not done on site and rather happened in the hotel bar when a rugby tackle went sour. As can be imagined, there was drink involved.
The new batch of volunteers were treated to the full Irish at the Victoria Junction hotel this morning, before Niall Mellon briefed them on the upcoming week. They were also entertained by the African Children's Choir who lifted the roof of the basement with their beautiful voices.These six and seven year olds are all AIDS orphans who have been taken in by a charity, taught to sing and dance, as well as attend school. These kids will take to the road early next year on a tour of the US and Europe.
All the volunteers were anxious to get to Imizamo Yethu as soon as possible. They arrived on seven coaches and at around 11 o'clock this morning they were led into the township by Joe McNamara on the bagpipes. Again, residents lined the streets shouting and clapping their welcomes for these Irish heroes. But, there wasn't much time to delay as foremen were anxious to hit the ground running and start work immediately.
The level of work completed today was impressive - particularly given that it was the first day. Most tradesmen were able to begin their work immediately. This was because of the sterling effort put in by Week 1's volunteers. Carpenters, roofers and electricians (or Bright Sparks as they are known on the site) could all begin using their skills immediately on the semi-completed houses. Plumbers were all in the HQ compound beginning to assemble the bathrooms and kitchen fittings. Plasterers too were hard at work and most teams seemed to get at least two to three houses done during the day.
There were many familiar faces this week as veteran volunteers returned to Imizamo Yethu. Some 150 builders have been on one or both of the previous Challenges and say it is now a fixture in their calendars. There were also lots of new faces as the work of the Niall Mellon Township Challenge becomes more widely known. One of these was former world super middleweight and middleweight boxing champion, Chris Eubank. Chris heard about the project through his friendship with the Corrs and Gavin Bonner, a lawyer from Belfast and husband to Sharon Corr. Chris apparently has some experience in demolition work, stretching back to the mid 1980s in New York, before his boxing career took off. He and Gavin donned orange t-shirts and mucked in with everyone else for the day.
