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Tag Archives: Kenya

Big Clare support for Trócaire

The people of Clare, through Trócaire, supported 260 families around the world with Christmas gifts last year. People in the county spent almost €8,000 on Trócaire gifts last year, which supported families with livestock, school books, water and healthcare in some of the poorest and most isolated places on earth. The charity said that people from across the country continue to show incredible generosity at Christmas. Since its beginning Trócaire’s gifts campaign has sold nearly 900,000 gifts. The campaign has raised over €37 million in total for Trócaire’s work to eradicate poverty in more than 20 countries in the developing world. Kilmaley man Eamonn Meehan, executive director of Trócaire, said, “I have seen the difference these gifts make on the ground. It is no exaggeration to say that they are having an immediate, practical impact on families throughout the developing world. For example, millions of people in east Africa are still fighting for survival in the face of drought and …

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Helping east Africa food appeal

Special collections will take place at all masses across County Clare at the weekend, as part of a national appeal to help people caught up in the current food crisis in east Africa. Trócaire executive director Éamonn Meehan, from Kilmaley, has urged people to get behind the appeal and support the agency’s efforts to save lives in the affected areas. 25 million people in east Africa are facing starvation in the coming months and millions could die unless they receive immediate assistance. Severe drought, driven by climate change, is currently affecting Kenya, South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia and this has resulted in failed harvests and the widespread death of livestock. The Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference has called for a national church collection to support Trócaire’s work in the region. “With the failure of successive rains and a prolonged drought having taken hold of the region, just surviving has now become the main challenge facing the people of east Africa,” Éamons …

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Henry Rallies trades people to help Ray of Sunshine

HURLING legend Henry Shefflin has urged Irish builders to join forces with the Ray of Sunshine Foundation and put their skills to good work for the under-privileged in Kenya. The winner of 10 All-Ireland medals, the Kilkenny man is appealing to tradesmen and women to get involved in a project to build a refuge for children. He’s happy to report that dozens of bricklayers, carpenters and workers have already pledged their support to the charity. The director of the charity, Clare woman, Olive Halpin explained how Henry, without hesitation, agreed to become an ambassador for the Ray of Sunshine Foundation, following the death of TV personality, Derek Davis. Another Clare person involved in Ray of Sunshine is Dr Rory O’Keeffe from Ennis. Following his retirement, he moved to Kenya to work with the organisation as team doctor. Henry, who has won every honour in the game over his long career, said the charity is looking for volunteers, skilled and unskilled, …

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Shoebox appeal goes online

In the countdown to Christmas, the Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal has moved online, so that those who failed to meet the deadline can now participate at the click of a button. All you have to do is go to www.teamhope.ie where you can donate a shoebox on line, decide whether you’d like your gift to be for a boy, a girl or both and Team Hope will do the rest. Niall Barry, Team Hope executive director, said, ‘Our new online shoebox is a great idea for anyone who hasn’t had the time to go shopping, can’t get out, or just never got round to it. Our team in Kenya will use the money donated to create a Christmas gift (just like the ones we do here) and give it to a needy child.”

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The infants of Aylroe cillín remembred

History was made in West Clare last weekend last when mass was celebrated for the first time in Aylroe cillín, the infants burial place on the hill overlooking the Shannon Estuary. The mass was celebrated by retired Mill Hill Missionary, Fr Tom McGrath, a native Labasheeda, who is attached to the Kilmurry McMcMahon-Labasheeda parish. There was a large attendance of locals and people from surrounding areas at the mass, which was at the request of the landowner, Professor Michael Hayes, who organised it with Pat Clancy. All were welcomed to the mass by Fr McGrath, who spent 40 years with the Mill Hill Missionary Fathers in western Kenya. The cillín, or chidren’s burial ground on the Hill of Aylroe, contains in excess of 100 children’s graves, all unidentified, going back centuries. The ground is overgrown with gorse and furze and is overlooking the River Shannon. Fr McGrath thanked the attendance and had special prayers for the unbaptised children, the forgotten …

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