The 2008 Building Blitz will take place in the township of Khayelitsha in Cape Town on 28th November – 6th December 2008.
Khayelitsha is a township in South Africa situated on the outskirts of Capetown in the Cape Flats. The name is Xhosa for our new home.
After the historic elections of 1994 hundreds and thousands moved to urban areas in search of work, putting up shacks made of tin, wood and cardboard. Khayelitsha is one of these urban areas. Today Khaylitsha is home to over 1 million people and it runs for a number of kilometres along the N2. Xhosa is the predominant language of the residents.
Some 2,000 Irish volunteers will build on Site C in Khayelitsha in November which has a population of 5,600 people.
Khayelitsha is today the largest township in Cape Town and the third largest in South Africa. It is also one of the most marginalised and poverty-stricken townships in South Africa. The majority of the residents have no access to clean water, electricity or sanitation. Basic education and health care facilities are lacking. The unemployment rate officially stands at a staggering 50%, in reality the figure is sadly much higher.
Khayelitsha has one of the highest incidences of HIV/Aids infection in all of South Africa – this in a country that the United Nations Aids Foundation recognizes as having the second highest HIV/Aids rates globally (after India). Whilst some 27% of adults are HIV positive, amongst expectant mothers this figure may be as high as 40%.
This year the Niall Mellon Township Trust aims to build 800 houses in total as part of two projects Isiposethu and Ymzimhlophe each comprising of 400 houses.
The Irish volunteers travelling to Site C in Khayelitsha in November will build 250 houses in total but will contribute to the building of 650 houses through the roofing, plastering and painting of some pre prepared houses.
Following from the success of the Garden of Hope in the 2007 Building Blitz in Freedom Park some 100 gardeners will partake in a similar project on Site C this November.
