Magic walk in aid of Nepalese village

NUI Galway student society, Draíocht will walk the 70km from Ennis to Galway this week to raise money for a new health centre in a Nepalese village.
The students will carry water throughout the walk, in recognition of the challenges people in Nepal and other areas, face when trying to gain access to clean water.
The volunteers will leave Ennis carrying five to 20 litres of water each, at 12am on Friday and continue walking 37km to Gort. On Saturday, they will continue their journey and walk the 35km to Galway.
The Draíocht volunteers will use the money raised to begin construction on a new healthcare centre in Talamarang, Nepal this summer.
Draíocht founder and Ennis native Melanie Hennessy, who is currently studying medicine in National University of Ireland Galway, realises the walk will be difficult but feels strongly about the positive impact the clinic could have on the village.
“We know that this walk won’t be easy and that water is heavy.
“These people really need this facility. At one stage, three of the 10 children we were caring for in our orphanage had become orphans because their mothers had died giving birth to them.
“Most of the women who die giving birth die from easily preventable causes. By building this health clinic, we hope to give those women and those families a chance,” she said.
“We are going to educate the community on health issues. One of the biggest problems in the area is blindness. Smoke damage from indoor cooking and poor ventilation means that many locals, particularly women, are suffering from severe eye damage.
“We aim to implement a number of initiatives from prevention to treatment to combat this problem,” the 20-year-old student said.
Draíocht are going to establish the healthcare centre with the primary goal of lowering the extremely high infant mortality and maternal (obstetrical) death rates in the village. According to the United Nations, Nepal has an infant mortality rate of 53 per 1000, 11 times higher than Ireland.
Founded in 2007 to provide for orphans in the rural Nepalese village of Talamarang, Draíocht has already made a big difference, having successfully established an orphanage. Draíocht was instrumental in the construction of a large school in the same Talamarang district in association with Nepalese organisation, Team Nepal. Last year, the school topped the league table in exam results in the Nepalese equivalent of the Leaving Certificate, the SLC.
This summer, there are 14 volunteers preparing to travel to Nepal to work on the ground. These volunteers will work in a wide range of areas, from teaching in the school to caring for the children in the orphanage as well as physically constructing the clinic.
Any member of the public who would like more information or would like to donate or volunteer can visit www.draiochtnepal.org.