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JULY 2008
Carmel's experiences in South Africa
Carmel Baker, from Buncrana, is to return to South Africa to take
part in a building blitz, constructing 250 houses for a village
near Cape Town and needs as much help as possible.
Carmel, who was accompanied by her partner Mike, said she found
it a "humbling experience" from the outset. On the first
day she was labouring, carrying scaffolding, wheeling barrows of
cement and filling buckets of cement. Here she tells, in her own
words, how the experience changed her and why she want to go back
so badly.
"When we left to go to South Africa flight delays meant we
were late getting to Cape Town but luckily the airport had reopened
after a plane crashed into quicksand earlier that day, this would
have meant a really long journey to Johannesburg. Niall Meehan (the
man behind the building blitz) was phenomenal. He met us at the
airport at two o'clock in the morning. He puts in 18 hour days and
just keeps going.
Freedom Park is 40km from Cape Town a township that was created
during Apartheid. The population in this area is approximately 50,000
people. Freedom Park was so named, when it was established on Freedom
Day, a South African Public holiday in 1998. "It will take
a long time to erase the memory of the people in Freedom Park lining
the streets to welcome us to and from our work, all of them singing
and dancing and holding placards welcoming us. I was part of a 70
strong grey team and our foreman was even from Donegal, in the end
up our group was known as the 'Donegal Mafia'.
On the first day I was labouring, carrying scaffolding, wheeling
barrows and filling buckets with cement. On the second day I was
labouring again, moving tiles from A to B and this involved stealing
as many planks of wood as possible from other teams in order to
make a hard surface for the wheelbarrow. The third day saw me negotiating
some dodgy scaffolding to make my way onto the roof, it seemed I'd
served my apprenticeship on the ground. "I didn't realise there
was so much involved in putting on a roof. It was good to be able
to follow the process from beginning to end. Up on the roof I didn't
do much of the sawing but I measured and drew the angle to which
the trusses had to be cut, helped put on the felt and nailed down
the laths of wood. Next up was putting on the tiles, I'd been warned
to only walk where the nails were otherwise I'd go through the roof.
What joy. The first two rows were being nailed down and every two
rows thereafter. A red dye was mixed through the cement before cementing
the caps along the ridge of the roof, it was a glorious day and
the view from the rooftop was amazing, the people scurrying below
looked like an army of ants.
It is only in recent years that they have sanitation and water
in this township but obviously not within the shacks themselves.
Children have to travel long distances at night if they want to
go to the toilet. The women appear to do most of the work. The only
produce that they seem to have for sale were some sheep's heads
that they cooked on some logs and then scrape the charcoal off.
On average one in every six adults has Aids. The life expectancy
is roughly 43 years of age, however we did meet an old lady who
was going to move into her first concrete house in her sixties!!
The conditions that the people in Freedom Park live in are appalling,
but they are so resilient in the face of adversity. People were
seen rummaging through the builders scrap for any uneaten food.
The children radiate happiness even though they have so little.
We all know of the poverty that exists but it really drives it home
when you see it up front.
It truly was a privilege to be part of it. The families were so
appreciative of our efforts and to see what a difference it makes
to their lives just makes the whole thing so worthwhile. Not to
mention the craic onsite, it was nonstop banter all the way from
those seasoned builders, comedians everyone. It certainly was a
week to remember. I can't highly recommend the experience enough.
We are trying to raise as much money as possible to go back in
November and I hope that we get as much support as we did last year.
We will be fundraising in Letterkenny this Saturday (26th July)
look out for the yellow T-shirts".
To find out more visit www.irishtownship.com
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