Masakhe 01 DIGITAL HIRES SINGLE - Flipbook - Page 45
CEM PRESENT
site as labourers, digging trenches,
casting concrete, laying bricks, and
practically learning all the skills
necessary for their future careers.
“They get the whole experience of
the backbreaking work it takes to be
in the construction industry. They get
a better appreciation of the people
who work in that environment. We
take care of the social aspect, the
activism. And they also bond as first
years. We killed a lot of birds with one
stone (…) I’ll take them back on Friday
afternoon, and they all look very
tired and very grumpy, but they’re all
happy,” Karen Le Jeune, the pioneer
of the department’s community
building projects, says.
After several political disputes,
Niall Mellon ended his efforts in South
Africa and moved the foundation to
the Congo instead.
In 2016, Hillary Faulmann, one of
the past employees of the Niall Mellon
Foundation, contacted Le Jeune with
a pitch. She had started up her own
organisation, Bluemoon Projects, and
needed volunteers.
Bluemoon Projects is a Metropolitan
Planning Organisation whose primary
objective is to formalise childhood
development centres in the Western
Cape. The foundation contacts informal
daycare centres in rural communities
and collaborates with the owners to
guarantee that they comply with health
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