Niall Mellon and Volunteer Team Return to Africa for Fourth School Building Blitz

DUBLIN, Sept. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Niall Mellon and 300 Mellon Educate volunteers will return to Cape Town later this autumn to renovate three schools in Khayelitsha. The volunteers, mostly from Ireland and the United Kingdom, will arrive on 12^th Nov. 2017 and spend until the 18^th Nov. (1 week) undertaking substantial building and extension works at the following schools:

• Sosebenza Primary School - 1350 pupils

5 x classrooms, 2 x Grade R classrooms, Playground for Grade R, Sheltered social area

• Usasazo High School - 1100 pupils

6 x classrooms, 1 x kitchen, Sports field, sheltered social area, outdoor gym. (This school is attended by learners from Ummangaliso Primary School, a Mellon Educate blitz school in 2016).

• Sobambisana Primary School - 1200 pupils

1x science lab, 1x grade 4 classroom, 1 x kitchen, playground

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Niall Mellon began his charitable work in South Africa in 2002, focusing on building quality social housing in the townships. Over ten years the charity worked with over 22,000 volunteers to build 25,000 homes for 125,000 impoverished South Africans. Khayelitsha Township was the location of the biggest ever housing building blitz back in 2008, when some 2,000 volunteers helped to complete hundreds of homes here.  

In 2013, the charity changed its focus from housing to education, committed to a ten-year initiative to provide educational assistance for over 100,000 children in Africa. Now in its fourth year, the charity has already built 12 schools and renovated many others, educating 12,500 children to date.

Each Mellon Educate volunteer has personally raised approx. ZAR 60,000 (?4,000) to partake in the charity's annual Building Blitz, a sizeable proportion of which goes towards building materials for the schools as well as towards the charity's teachers mentoring programme, which commences in each school the charity helps for 2-3 years once the physical work is completed. Mellon Educate volunteers feel very strongly about the importance of education and the future of South Africa and are all committed to helping make a difference in one of the most impoverished communities in Cape Town.

Mellon Educate volunteers are all ages and from all backgrounds. While approx. 25 percent are skilled in a building trade, the majority are not but most important is a willingness to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in! It is a testament to the success of our program and the legacy it leaves that many volunteers return year after year.

For further information call +44 (0)203 740 9914 or visit our website www.melloneducate.com where potential volunteers can learn more via our interactive feature and hear Niall Mellon speak about the importance of the charity's work.

SOURCE Mellon Educate