Sunday 6th November 2005
The Sabbath may be designated a day of rest, but there was no sign of stopping at Imizamo Yethu today. It is the first full day that the volunteers spent on site. 530 people are building houses in the township this week. Despite the increased numbers things seem to be running smoothly, despite the odd hic-cup.
Head foreman, Michael Keogh, is predicting that by Tuesday evening the block-laying for each team should be completed. Some teams will even be finished by tomorrow, which means that the Township Challenge is on target for 2005. This is despite the major setbacks suffered during last week's storms.
There year's Challenge seems to be a family affair, with many
volunteers travelling with their children or indeed their significant
others. Joan and Seamus Barry celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary
on site yesterday. The Green Team members insisted they wouldn't have
enjoyed themselves as much anywhere else. The Murphys from Clare have
almost a complete family unit on site, with dad, two sons and a daughter
all labouring hard. Only Mammy Murphy didn't make the trip despite her
having the bulk of the fund-raising for her family. Four Sinnotts from
Wexford, father and three sons, are also working hard at the township.
There are also a few father-daughter pairs on this trip, like Vincent
and Anne-Marie Flynn from the navy team and Tony and Kate Murphy on
the red team. And of course, Niall Mellon's two brothers Dave and Ray
are working on the yellow team this week. His wife Nicola and their
two
small boys under two are also in Cape Town, although we have yet to
see either Harry aged 18 months, or Bobby age five months, do any hard
labour. Nicola's brother Denis Dunphy makes it an extended family
affair. So far, we are happy to report that there have been no domestics
among the family volunteers (although a couple of husbands did ask to
work on different teams to their wives!).
With enough people for a couple of GAA teams, a contingent of 29 people
from Co. Down makes up a huge part of the Orange team. Led by veteran volunteer, Christian Hood, these hardy Down boys all fund-raised and travelled together. Speaking of great things from Northern Ireland, Gerry Kelly and his producer Patricia Moore touched down in Cape Town this morning and made their way immediately to Imizamo Yethu. Gerry is making an hour long documentary on this year's challenge, which he hopes to screen on UTV before the end of the year.
