BY NUALA MCALOON
Helping a Chilean family build a simple, decent home while immersing themselves in the vibrant South African culture will form the framework of a challenging trip of a lifetime for two Fermanagh ladies.
For, come the 24th October, Aideen McGinley and Joanna McVey will travel with 12 other women from across Northern Ireland and spend two weeks alongside a Chilean family, giving them an opportunity to move themselves from unsanitary, cramped housing conditions into simple, decent homes of their own.
The trip is been co-ordinated by Habitat for Humanity, a charity founded in 1976 with the sole aim of tackling poverty housing on a global scale. Thirty years on and the charity is working in 92 countries around the world, in which time it has built 250,000 homes in partnership with people in need of simple, decent housing.
As volunteers, Aideen and Joanna will be working and living alongside the local community to help build houses and, at the same time learn about the South American country.
The group of 14 must raise a minimum of £25,000, a figure that Aideen suggests has probably already been exceeded following a number of successsful fund-raising projects on the group's behalf, but one that she hopes can be expanded and put to good use for the local charities in Chile.
And to that end, Aideen and Joanna have organised a Golf Open at Castle Hume Golf Course next Monday, 17th September. The 'four person team any combination event' is expected to start at the 'crack of dawn'. Tee times are still available up to four o'clock in the afternoon. Already, a whopping £3,500 has been raised from business sponsorship and players but places are still available and everyone is encouraged to make a pledge.
"Anyone who wishes to spend a good day out is asked to come along and we would remind them that Joanna and myself will be available at the ninth hole to feed them!" Aideen laughs.
On a more serious note however, Aideen, wh is the Permanent Secretary for the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, first got involved with Habitat for Humanity four years ago when she built houses in Ligoniel in Belfast and further afield. Indeed, on Saturday last, Joanna and herself teamed up with the 12 others in their team for what was essentially a 'practice run', building houses in the Shankill.
"We were working hard up on the roof doing a whole range of work. We were use angle grinders, and you do get your hands dirty, you are expected to do everything," she explained.
Aideen travelled to Thailand three years ago as part of a team of 17 and built two houses in a week in a small community working alongside those the homes would accommodate.
"Then the opportunity came up to go to Chile and, now 14 professional women including nurses and people who work in the voluntary, public and private sector are going. And, it will be a privilege to provide our sweat equity".
She continued: "There's a real sense of achievement and something very tangible about putting a roof over someone's head. One in four people in the world don't have permanent shelter, and this charity sets out to make a difference and to improve these people' lives through building homes."
Despite improving economic conditions over the last few years, an estimated 22% of Chile's population live below the poverty line. Over 1.1 million families live in low income or squatter areas without adequate services and in overcrowded conditions. Their homes are merely shacks pieced together with scrap wood, plastic and cardboard. High living costs and constantly rising prices make it impossible for such low-income families to satisfy even their most basic needs.
It is for those reasons, Aideen's challenge will be all the more satisfying.
"It is very rewarding and completely different from the work you are used to. And you definitely get more out of it than you can ever put in."
Anyone wishing to sponsor a hole or to play in Monday's Golf Open at Castlehume is asked to contact Seamus on 07929777204.
"This is an opportunity for the people of Fermanagh to build a better life for people on the other side of the world and we feel very humbled by the support people have given us" Aideen added.
