Hundreds of Irish volunteers are heading to South Africa to build more than 100 houses for slum dwellers, following an official launch of a charity project today.
Nobel Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu is in Dublin to launch the Niall Mellon Challenge 2005, which will build brick houses for shack dwellers in one of Cape Town's townships.
He is being joined by property developer Niall Mellon and some of the 700 volunteers, who are heading out to South Africa from next week in what organisers describe as the largest exodus of Irish people to an overseas charity event.
The volunteers - some of whom have never laid a brick before - range in age from 15 to 69 and each individual has raised at least €4,000 to participate on the trip.
The group aims to build more than 100 houses over a two-week period to provide homes for around 500 residents of Imizamo Yethu township.
It is the third year of the township challenge, which has grown from 154 builders who took part in the first year in 2003, and 350 last year.
Project founder Niall Mellon said he was overwhelmed by the response to this year's challenge.