The Desmond Tutu Community Build 2008

In September 2008 120 volunteers from the UK flew to South Africa to take up the challenge of building 20 houses in just one week!

The build took place in Mfuleni, a township around 40km east of Cape Town in South Africa. Mfuleni is a relatively new, racially mixed township as a result of people moving here in the late 1990's following floods and fires in different townships across the Western Cape. The majority of people in Mfuleni live in house structures (shacks) made of tin. Most of the 6,000 houses do not have any formal water supply, electricity or toilets. The level of poverty here produces many social problems including unemployment, child neglect and abandonment.

The Desmond Tutu Community Build 2008 was a programme run jointly by Habitat for Humanity in Great Britain and South Africa. On arrival at the building site volunteers were split into teams and introduced to the families they would be helping to build their new homes. The level of teamwork was incredible and the hardwork of everyone involved meant 20 houses were completed within the week long build.

Interested in taking part in a Global Village build? Check out the destinations for 2009.