The five men, Tommy O’Connor, Paul Roberts, Gary O’Connor, Shane Lennon and Niall McClelland, nicknaming themselves the ‘A-Team’, made short work of the houses which will provide a much-needed orphanage in the town of Ilovo, just outside Durban.

The ‘MAIL’ caught up with Tommy and Paul this week to find out more about their African adventure.

“We ended up doing about 15 hours work a day - it was flat out,” said Paul.

“The heat was 35 degrees,” added Tommy.

“There was a wee bit of rain, but we worked through it wearing wetsuits and stuff like that,” Paul continued.

This was by no means a holiday for the men, who all work for P & T Construction, based in Craigavon. Tommy and Paul told of the stark realities of life in the area.

“The ones from Mother of Peace who set up the orphanage told us the kids’ stories after work and we’d be near crying every night,” said Tommy.

“They’ve got nothing. They’ve all been abused and they’ve all got HIV.”

Paul told how, when the men were working on the orphanage, a one-and half year-old baby was left outside the school in a plastic bag.

The men also told of the cramped and basic huts the people of Ilova lived in.

“They live in mud huts with tin roofs - there’s about 10 to a tiny shelter,” said Paul.

Ilovo is in the sugar cane region where a number of bodies have been discovered prompting fears there may be a killer at large.

Despite the hardships they said their trip was extremely worthwhile:

Tommy commented: “You had all the kids running about you all day - they were so happy for us to be there.

“It was brilliant to be building something for them. We’re going back next year to build a chapel.”

Tommy concluded: “We’d like to thank the Stables and the people of Craigavon and Lurgan for helping us out - they paid for most of it.”