Galway dad’s shock as son turns up for charity build – in Africa

A construction foreman from Barna was on his eighth stint volunteering for the Niall Mellon charity in South Africa when he noticed a lad on the roof in front of him wearing the ‘newbie’ t-shirt.

Johnny Walsh was about to tap the 24-year-old on the shoulder to wish him good luck on his debut week-long building blitz when he nearly fell off the roof of the school they were constructing.

It was his son, Danny, who was meant to be working as a civil engineer in Sydney.

Johnny’s wife Trish and several of his friends knew that Danny was to to join them but successfully kept it a secret.

“I was the only one who didn’t know – and I talked to him every week on the phone. For years I was trying to get one of my kids to come but the fundraising can be daunting. Danny and a mate raised $7,000 each and they flew in. It was the first time I ever stayed for two extra days so that we could really catch up.”

Danny has also now been bitten by the volunteering bug and plans to join his 51-year-old dad from his new home in London on the 2019 blitz in November, working on two school projects in the township of Mfuleni.

They will build six primary school classrooms, a library, toilet block and a playground. For the high school the volunteers will build four classrooms, an outdoor gym and a sports field.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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