Irish philanthropist Niall Mellon is calling for 1,000 volunteers to join him next year on what is said to be the biggest ever Irish charity mission overseas.
The founder of the largest house-building charity operating in South Africa launched his appeal at the Digiweb Ideal Homes exhibition in Dublin yesterday.
The project, known as "Building Blitz 2007", will take place over one week in November next year at a township in Cape Town. This will be the fifth Building Blitz organised by the Niall Mellon Township Trust and organisers said it would be "by far the biggest to date".
The aim is to build at least 150 high-quality houses and take 1,000 South African men, women and children out of shacks and into a proper home for the first time in their lives.
Each volunteer has to raise €4,000 and about half of this goes towards flights and accommodation, with the rest going directly to the charity. Mr Mellon personally pays for all the administration costs.
The trust is seeking skilled and unskilled volunteers for the project. About 80 per cent need to come from the construction industry but people from other walks of life are also welcome.
The RDS launch was also attended by Minister of State for Overseas Development and Human Rights Conor Lenihan and South African ambassador Priscilla Jana.