Westport blocklayer and daughter prepare for Cape Town building blitz

ALTHOUGH he said that last year would be his final trip to South Africa with the Niall Mellon Township Challenge, James Lally is once again packing his trowel and heading to the southern hemisphere.

Blocklayer James Lally from Aughagower, Westport, will be returning to Cape Town for the eleventh time next Saturday, November 18, along with his 19-year-old daughter, Orla, to help build a school in the Khayelitsha township.

“I went out last November,” James told The Mayo News. “I brought my daughter Orla with me, as it was supposed to be my last trip, but she decided ‘No, no we are going again’. She loved it. She saw the other side of the coin. She loved the work and meeting other people and cultures, and so we are on our way out again on Saturday.”

Big family

James first travelled to Cape Town in 2008 to build houses with the Niall Mellon Township Challenge. Since 2013, Mellon Educate has set about improving access to better standards of education in African townships. To date, the charity has built or renovated 32 schools, providing over 50,000 young children with a better chance in life.

Next week, James and Orla will travel to the Khayelitsha township, which has a population of 1.5 million people, just a quarter of which lives in permanent housing.

James and Orla will be among 360 other volunteers who will work for just over a week to construct a new school for the township, with Orla labouring for James on the site.

Since he started going to South Africa, James has made some wonderful friendships – one of the main reasons he keeps going back.

“There are people I met the first year who I will meet and work together again. We do meet up during the year and ask will we go, and we decide we’ll give it another lash. I have made some brilliant friendships from it with people from all over Ireland, England and America. It is like a big family,” he added.

Fundraising fun

As part of the building blitz, each new volunteer must raise €4,500 while veteran volunteers have to raise €4,000. James held a bucket collection in Westport while Orla organised a shave, wax and dye event in the Country Lodge Hotel in Aughagower.

“Thank everyone for supporting us in our fundraising because without their help and support we would not be able to do this. We had a great night in the Country Lodge where they really made a clown of me,” he laughed.

“I got waxed, hair shaved and dyed. They were supposed to put in the washable dye but no they said they’d do a right job so I had to shave the whole lot off and go into work on Monday. But it was all part of a good cause, and we’ll assure everyone we’ll do a good job out there,” he added.