Application forms are now available for October/November 2009.
Click here to download your application for October/November 2009
Being a volunteer is an amazing, life-changing experience.
It is only one week out of your life, but the work you complete in South Africa will change the lives of South African township residents forever.
Each volunteer must submit a deposit of €500 with their application form. This will only be cashed upon confirmation of your place on the trip. If your application is unsuccessful, your deposit will be returned. Once accepted on the trip, a further €4,500 must be raised, bringing the total sponsorship needed to €5000.
Approximately 50% of this will go towards your flight, accommodation and upkeep for the week of the Blitz, and the balance goes directly towards the cost of building materials for the houses you’ll be working on in South Africa.
€5000 may seem a daunting figure, but it is amazing how quickly people come on board to help you once you start fundraising. Click here for some fundraising ideas, and don’t forget to let us know if you are planning any events, so we can help in any way possible.
We have a serious mission to build a large number of houses in one week. This means that every volunteer must take the goal of the trip seriously. We have had five great trips so far, and we could not praise highly enough the effort made by each and every person. They have set a high standard which we want to try and match, if not exceed, each year.
The week in South Africa is hard work and does require a certain level of fitness and stamina. It is also great fun, with a fantastic spirit of bonhomie and good humour. Anyone who has been on our trip before would testify that the craic and banter on the sites is second to none!
We recognise that people who have not travelled to South Africa before, or indeed a township, may be concerned about their personal safety. This is a high priority for us and we would like to point out that all our volunteers stay together in a hotel in the lower Cape Town district. All volunteers are brought in coaches from the hotel to the township everyday.
This is a once in a lifetime experience. One of the many reasons that so many volunteers choose to come to South Africa with us year after year is their delight in the wonderful, warm and friendly welcome they receive from the residents of the townships.
Our terms and Conditions
1. Participants must raise a minimum of €5000. A deposit of €500 must accompany your application form. The balance of €4500 must be received no later than the 31st July 2009. Once your place is accepted, the deposit becomes non-refundable except in exceptional circumstances.
2. Participants must be between the ages of 18 and 65 to apply, be relatively fit to work during the Building Blitz and must complete the medical questions on the application form. If you are over 55 years old, or if you have any sort of medical condition that could be adversely affected by exercise, and/or the type of work envisaged during the Building Blitz, particularly any sort of heart condition, you must obtain a medical certificate from your doctor.
3. Participants must inform The Niall Mellon Township Trust of any change in their medical condition that occurs after the submission of their application, including pregnancy. The Niall Mellon Township Trust reserves the right to refuse a participant if, in their sole opinion, the participant is deemed medically unfit to take part.
4. Participants’ passports must be valid for 6 months beyond the date of departure. Passport control and in-country authorities will reserve the right to refuse entry.
5. If at any stage or for whatever reason The Niall Mellon Township Trust considers you at any stage unsuitable for the challenge, it reserves the right at its absolute discretion to cancel your registration or to cease your involvement in the Building Blitz should it have commenced. Furthermore, if you commit an illegal or unlawful act, you may be excluded from the Building Blitz and The Niall Mellon Township Trust shall not be responsible to you, or for you, thereafter.
6. Participants must not use The Niall Mellon Township Trust name or their association with it, for any other purpose other than to fundraise in respect of their involvement in the Building Blitz.
7. The Niall Mellon Township Trust reserves the right, at its absolute discretion, to refuse your application, in which case your deposit of €500 will be returned to you.
8. The Niall Mellon Township Trust provides basic travel insurance for each participant. Should you require additional cover, you are responsible for making your own arrangements for, and baring the cost of, such additional cover.
9. By signing the application form, you are confirming that to the best of your knowledge, your general state of health is good and that you take full responsibility for yourself.