Four Laois volunteers fundraising to build schools in South Africa

Four Clonaslee people are preparing to put in eight days of hard work to help build a school in a poverty stricken South African shanty township.

John Joe Heaney, Ray and Elaine Delaney and Pat Carroll are heading out in November to volunteer for the Mellon Educate charity.

It is John Joe’s 12th trip, Ray’s fifth but the first time for nurse Elaine and Pat.

Ray was moved to volunteer after seeing the plight of townships while on his honeymoon with Elaine in South Africa over a decade ago. 

“My father used to do a lot of charity work and when this came up he was happy I was doing something too. John Joe came with me the first time and he’s been going every year since. We do block laying, a bit of painting, it’s nearly as skilled labourers. 

“I haven’t gone in 10 years as our kids were small and Elaine wants to go with me for the first time,” he explained.

Each volunteer has to raise €4,250 each which is used for building materials. They are opting to pay out of their own pockets for flights, costing about €1,000 each.

“We don’t want anyone to think it’s a holiday,” Ray said.

He describes the poverty experienced in black townships that were created during the time of apartheid.

Below: the small houses built by the Mellon charity amidst shacks. 

“People live in old shacks. The food they have to eat is rough. The worst case I saw, a woman came and asked us if there was a bit of cement left to patch a hole in the bottom of her galvanise shack. She had a new baby and was up at night trying to keep the rats off the baby. They are as big as cats,” Ray said.

“The children come out of these little shacks absolutely shining ready for school. They wrap their uniforms in plastic to keep them clean and dry,” he said.

“At least when we go home we have built them some homes. This time it’s a school we are building,” he said.

John Joe explains why the townships are still there so many years after the locals were forced out of their villages by racial segregation laws that are long overturned.

"It's just the poverty. The rich are getting richer using cheap labour. These people have nothing but they are so happy," he said.

He has gone every year since he began in 2012 with Ray. 

"The feeling when you come home, you realise we have so much in Ireland and we don't realise it, Christmas really is not the problem people think it is. 

"We're like a big family, I meet up with some of the volunteers during the year and we are all great friends. I could go to any county and practically be welcomed to stay in their houses. Everyone goes out to do the same thing, whether you're a solicitor or a bricklayer," he said.

He works in forestry and Ray in concrete.

"My wife encouraged me to start going, it was something I had talked about for years. For years we built houses and now the locals build them themselves with a fund from the South African Government. The Mellon charity supervises it.

"They've turned to building schools now. Mandela said 'education is the most powerful weapon in the world'. At home kids complain about having to go, over there children walk four miles and eat one meal of a bowl of rice and an apple. Things like that just hit you. 

Give up your old scrap to help Laois Africa volunteers

"Once you arrive and hit the ground, you're treated like a hero. Everyone is so thankful, they remember you, they ask after your family each year. When we finish we will have built an extension on the school, fixed the toilets and installed a new fence," he said.

He described the astonishing scale of the shantytown they will volunteer in, Khayelitsha outside Cape Town.

"It has over a million people, in a site about the size of from Tullamore to Portlaoise. Big trains take them in to work. There are shops but they only sell bare essentials. There is no space to grow food, no running water or sanitation. The rate of crime is very high. When we volunteer there are armed guards protecting us," he said.

The Mellon Educate Building Blitz has over the past 21 years transformed the lives of thousands of people in South African Townships by building and renovating 36 schools over 10 years, to date improving education for 50,000 children. 

Retention permission sought to transform Laois barn into hospitality area

This year they join 300 volunteers who will work in two schools, building 18 classrooms, two kitchens and two playgrounds, from November 18 to 25. 

First timers Elaine and Pat have to raise €4,750 each and returning volunteers Ray and John Joe €4,250 each.

The group are holding a Scrap Saturday collection day on Saturday, August 12 in Clonaslee Community Centre.

They are asking people to donate scrap metal, electrical equipment, batteries, as well as clean clothes, shoes, soft toys, bags, belts, household textiles and books. 

It takes place from 10am to 4pm. Large items can be collected if they are not too far from Clonaslee.