Please choose a testimonial from below:
1. Testimonial of Patrick Maqavana
2. My Experience into REAL Social Upliftment – A House is a Basic Need (Francie Shonhiwa)
3. Testimonial by Roscoe Friend of Metropolitan Health Group – Corporate Day, 12 February in Freedom Park
4. Doing it for Mfuleni, with love – testimonials from Helena & Gordon Reid
5. Testimonial from Ryan Davies - 12 May 2007 SA Volunteer Building Day at Mfuleni
6. Testimonial from Toni Livingstone- from 1st Corporate Volunteer build in Tembisa, Gauteng - 20 August 2008
7. Testimonial by Carol Thorne of Rhema Ministries from volunteer build in Tembisa, Gauteng - 9 August 2008
8.University of Cape Town,Construction Economics and Management
1st year students on a week long build - June 2008, Wallacedene
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Testimonial of Patrick Maqavana
I discovered the Niall Mellon Townships Initiative in 2006. I connected with it immediately; I spent 8 years of my life in a shack; I related to this cause.
This project gives me hope; hope that we can work together to eradicate shacks in South Africa.
I have participated in the Volunteer Builds for the past 3 years, it was more fulfilling this year because I convinced 15 of my colleagues to join me.
I am proud to be a part of this initiative; it feels great to see the difference.
Sincerely,
Patrick Maqavana
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My Experience into REAL Social Upliftment – A House is a Basic Need (Francie Shonhiwa)
Before my interaction with the Niall Mellon Township Initiative (NMTI), I never imagined that a squatter camp could be transformed into a beautiful township by ordinary people with no building skills – that is volunteers with a passion to make a difference.
As PPC’s Group CSI Manager and in line with the organization’s slogan - “Nation Building Company”, one is always on the look-out for opportunities to invest in and develop disadvantaged communities.
Niall Mellon Township Initiative was like a God-send opportunity to touch lives. Sandi Tomlison, one of our Sales Consultants exposed me to the Niall Housing project. At first, I was skeptical and a typical “doubting Thomas”. How could a squatter camp be transformed into a township – impossible! I then visited the Niall website and I was truly amazed at the work Mellon was doing.
I wanted to experience the magic of transforming people’s lives and motivated PPC to contribute towards the building of 4 houses – a drop in the ocean - but every great journey starts with a step. The African proverb says “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago – but the second best is today”. The 4 houses were the beginning of a long term relationship and earned PPC an opportunity to participate in the Corporate Build on 12 February 2008.
12 February 2008 – The Defining Moment
A good business will be judged by how it supports its community - for without the community – the business is nothing.
12 February 2008 is one of the days that will forever stand out in my life. I traveled from Johannesburg to join my colleagues from our Cape Town Sales & Marketing Office and proceeded to Freedom Park where we were going to build houses – starting from the foundations.
Upon arriving at the NMTI construction site, I could not help noticing the excitement and anticipation among all volunteers. The warm welcome by the NMTI representative and the Freedom Park community representative was sure a sign that we were destined for a great day. It was really humbling to listen to the children, most of them under 6 years, singing a welcome song and thanking us for our generosity. At that moment I had a lump in my throat as I suddenly realized how blessed I was.
We were then slotted into our teams, collected equipment and off to the site. Teams were doing different tasks – from laying foundations, leveling the ground, laying bricks and painting. Most of us had no construction skills. In fact, no building experience is necessary. Guess what – ENTHUSIASM AND MOTIVATION is all it takes – no other skill! Everyone worked hard and laughed a lot. We were certainly a source of amusement to the skilled workmen who did not hesitate to demonstrate the tasks and then correcting us if we were not on the right track. I became the assistant to Mr. Sanders. Our hard work was soon rewarded when the foundation of one house turned into walls just before lunch.
We were having so much fun that lunch came quickly. After lunch, we had a tour of the shacks – a heart breaking experience – the scenes in these shacks left a lasting impression to remind me always to be grateful of what I have and also inspired me to help with the eradication of this type of family living. A family of 6 sleeping in one room – how can we expect to have a nation with morals and values when people are denied a dignified life?
The final event of the day involved the handover ceremony of houses to two families. Team spirits were at their peak, the sense of achievement was intense and the personal reward could not be described.
The whole day was an adventure, and one I will never forget. I was part of a team that participated in a daunting task. It was a very hot day and work was rough and tough, but the sense of achievement was worth all the aching muscles and blisters. The memories will linger forever. I am looking forward to the next Corporate Build in August 2008.
“Success breeds success” – may Niall Mellon Township Initiative grow from strength to strength.
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Testimonial by Roscoe Friend of Metropolitan Health Group – Corporate Day, 12 February in Freedom Park
Testimonial by Roscoe Friend of Metropolitan Health Group – Corporate Day, 12 February in Freedom Park
My first experience of building houses in the townships came a few years back when I was still at university and I did it to complete compulsory community service hours as a punishment. So you can now imagine when I was told I would be going to build houses in the township as a part of a team building exercise with my company that I wasn’t too excited. How wrong I was.
Arriving at Freedom Park after a bus trip from right outside our offices we made our way on foot past the shacks of the township towards the compound where we were to be briefed on what we would be doing for the day. On the way, seeing some of the newly built houses and community centre in contrast to the corrugated iron and plastic shacks was enough inspiration to ensure I was ready for a day of building.
After being told a brief history of Niall Mellon and a welcoming song from some of the local children we were all put into teams who were each tasked with doing some part of the house building process from plumbing to laying bricks and painting. Each team was headed up by a very experienced person in the field the team were tasked with and gave the team a quick explanation of what we were expected to do. We collected the necessary tools being provided in wheelbarrows per team and made our way to the sites where the next houses were being built. We immediately got to work under the supervision of our team leader and before we knew it, it was lunch time, so we packed up all the tools and headed to the community centre. We were all presented with the most fantastic packed picnic lunches that everyone devoured after all the hard work in the hot South African sun. After filling our stomachs and quenching our thirst we were taken on a guided tour of some of the old township shacks and were introduced to a few of the local community members who lived in Freedom Park and were waiting for their own new houses to be built. An eye opening experience to say the least!! We then recollected our wheelbarrows of tools and headed back to the building sites for the afternoon session. Another successful stint of building was completed and cool fresh water continued to be handed out all day ensuring that we all stayed well hydrated in the heat of the day. Now completely exhausted we all headed back to the compound and returned all our tools so they could be cleaned and ready for the next group of builders to use. A short walk back to the community centre later and we were all enjoying a well deserved drink together, sharing thoughts and ideas of the past day with each other. Drinks still in hand we made our way over to one of the recently completed houses to be ceremoniously handed over to the very grateful new owner and their children. A very heart warming experience!!
Just as quick as the day had begun, it had come to an end and we all said our goodbyes to the people of the community and the Niall Mellon Leaders and jumped on the bus back home. Before we knew it everyone had quietly passed out from a days work well done and were no doubt reliving the day’s activities in their dreams. Later that same week a disk was delivered to our offices and we all got together to view the photos that had been taken during our day of building and were reminded of the great time we had at Freedom Park.
A couple of months later I was asked if I wanted to take a new group of employees to do the building at Freedom Park again, I didn’t even hesitate in my decision and it was another fantastic day and once again a great success!
Thank you to Niall Mellon for such a wonderful charity that really makes such a big difference in the lives of people less fortunate and has made a real difference in my life. I highly recommend taking part in this fantastic initiative to anyone and everyone, it is a day in your life you will never forget.
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Doing it for Mfuleni, with love – testimonials from Helena & Gordon Reid
To be honest, when I woke up that Saturday morning I wasn’t really in a charitable mood. As usual, there were many domestic, work and study tasks waiting to be done and I could seriously have done with some extra sleep. Being busy with an emotionally draining internship at our local hospital left me with little energy to reach out to others on my precious Saturday. Nevertheless, we had promised we would go, so we drove down the R44 and a couple of windy roads in the mist and were slightly disoriented when we eventually arrived in Mfuleni.
When we turned up at NMTI’s headquarters, the excitement and anticipation were tangible as a group of about 50 volunteers waited to get instructions for the day. I realised then that it had been almost twenty years since I was last on a building site doing voluntary work and some of the thrill of those days started to take a hold of me. When I looked around the houses built by NMTI were easy to recognise: they were bright and neat, with tiled roofs with a solar panel, and solid wooden doors and window frames. It dawned on me that what I was about to do for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning would probably have a major impact on these people’s lives - many of them getting their first opportunity to live in a brick-and-cement house.
Meeting fellow volunteers was part of the appeal of the day and most of the people chatted incessantly and eagerly as they learnt how to paint walls, sand window and door frames, build walls, do plumbing and lay tiles. I must say, I hardly noticed that I was working. I was so busy listening and absorbing what was going on around me. The local people, especially the women, were eager to help and many of them were beaming with pride as their houses neared completion.
When we returned to our cars after a working day that seemed way too short and too much fun to count as real work, I realised that I felt more cheerful than I have felt in ages. Everything seemed brighter and lighter and when some of the locals started dancing and singing spontaneously, Mfuleni seemed truly blessed and like an exceptionally cheerful place to live.
Being a lawyer and being told that I am assigned to one of the “slabs” did not bode well in my mind. The closest I had come to any kind of slab up until that point was an autopsy report. I soon found out that my soft pen pushing hands had, in fact, been assigned to the heaviest duty possible – mixing “dagga” (not the soft kind that Bob Marley used to smoke) and building walls with large cement bricks. Well hats off to NMTI for taking the risk of letting a lawyer loose on a building site with large cement bricks, lots of cement and zero experience. Nevertheless, after a slow start, I commenced with slopping bits of cement onto each cement brick and laying them down in a more or less straight line (so I thought but had to later be straightened by a very experienced and energetic building veteran).
After I had proudly laid a line of five large cement bricks one of my fellow-volunteer workers discreetly and as gently as possible pointed out that all my bricks were upside down. Now look, I may be a office boy, but there is no way I was going to believe that one side of a brick is different from another, Being an opinionated lawyer didn’t help either. Alas, it was the first of many painful lessons I was to learn that day. They were upside down with big gaping holes at the top. No way would I have been able to build another layer on top. Thanks to my team mate, the damage and my embarrassment were minimised.
That is what the day was really about. Working together with people you had never met before doing something for people you had never met before – a combination that will always produce surprises and promises never to be dull. I tend to forget what I did two Saturdays ago, but I will remember for a long time, that Saturday back in May 2007 when I spent some time doing something for someone else just for a change.
Helena & Gordon Reid, Stellenbosch
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Testimonial from Ryan Davies - 12 May 2007 SA Volunteer Building Day at Mfuleni
My good friend William has a unique way of co-opting assistance in times of need. And so it was for the first South African building blitz in Mfuleni on Saturday 12 May 2007. He gathered the men in his social circle together, bought them a pint of their favourite beer and handed out application forms. If every South African took the time to help build a house for someone less fortunate, it would go along way to healing the past, breaking down misconceptions and bridging divides that desperately need to be overcome. Those were his words to us. How could we refuse the invitation to make a donation of 1 day and a little money.
A crisp morning and bright sunshine was a fine beginning to a good day. Along with 50 plus volunteers and staff I set off to mix cement, carry bricks and sweat buckets. On the way to our allocated job, we were introduced to a few of the local residents and we were shown both the current living conditions of those residents who had not yet managed to graduate from their shacks to something better, as well as the results of the work currently being undertaken by the Niall Melon Housing Initiative. Yes we all know what a shack in a township is like, or do we? Until we meet the person that calls that shack home and builds a life from it, I don't believe we quite know enough.
And so to building! Under the ever watchful eye of the staff and our congenial foreman, we began in earnest and in error it must be said, to build our unit to roof height. After ironing out the error in our ability we were soon on the long road to building respect for those who toil in hard labour day after day. Cement is just fine sand until you add water, at which point it turns to lead. The first pallet of bricks are not that heavy. Shovel and lower back should never be used in the same sentence. And it's only 10 o clock! Ah but it wasn't all bad. The cajoling and healthy competition with the team next door kept us in high spirits, as did the bottled water and energy bars! Before long we had the hang of it and the team had settled into the task at hand like it was nothing at all.
My personal highlight was an introduction to the owner of the house we were building. He graced us with a big smile and his ability with a shovel, a wheelbarrow and a trowel put us all to shame. He mucked in with for the last hour or so, a very necessary intervention to keep the raw, the numb and the downright broken chasing through to the end. All in all some Yanks, an Irish, a German and a smarty box of South Africans had rubbed shoulders in doing good and left behind something lasting for a family in need. Pretty, darn satisfying if you ask me!
Ryan Davies
PS: Disclaimer - All names are factual. William is a bully. Thank goodness he has a big heart and doesn't mind paying for the beer!
Testimonial by Toni Livingstone from 1st Corporate Volunteer build in Tembisa, Gauteng - 20 August 2008
Hi Mandy
Stiff muscles indeed, but so worth the while!!!
It was the most incredible day. Thank you so much for the opportunity and for everything you and the foundation do to provide these houses. It was a heart warming experience to see the house being handed over to Selinah.
I can only hope that Investec will get more involved the next time round. You can be sure I will show them photos and encourage them as much as possible that this is something we should do as a teambuilding/CSI initiative. If not, you will see me next time you are in Gauteng or im in Cape Town.
You are all wonderful people with such big hearts it’s almost unimaginable.
Regards
Toni
Testimonial by Carol Thorne of Rhema Ministries from volunteer build in Tembisa, Gauteng - 9 August 2008
Dearest Mandy and the rest of the team
Thank you for an awesome day. I was truly blessed and so pleased to be a part of the team that participated yesterday.
You guys are doing a great job and I pray that God will pour out His blessings upon each one of you as you give of your time to be a blessing to others.
Thank you once again for this awesome opportunity.
God bless
Carol
University of Cape Town,Construction Economics and Management
1st year students on a week long build - June 2008, Wallacedene
http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/blueberrys
http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/group-5-quot-the-build-quot
http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/scotties
http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/stars
http://blogs.uct.ac.za/blog/t-barney
