Helping out abroad
COMMUNITY TRIUMPH
Neill O’Neill
neiloneilll@mayonews.ie
IN 1981, Michael O’Donnell sat down to watch a television programme about a partnership between Waterford City and the town of Kitui in Kenya. Seeing what could be achieved by a concerted effort and a little caring was a life-changing experience for the Westport man. For the many thousands of people in the rural Kenyan town of Aror that moment would prove to be a life-saving one.
It was the start of a chain of events which would lead to the founding of a partnership between the two towns and 25 years of direct involvement and development in Aror by the people of Westport.
“We got in touch with the Irish Missionary Union who gave us a model to work off,” remembers Michael O’Donnell. “They gave us the choice of the Philippines, Kenya or Mauritius and we had to make sure that there was an Irish presence in the country, that language wouldn’t be a significant barrier, that accessibility to the region was practical, and that the Government of the country we decided on was amenable to outside help. Upon consideration of these factors and on talking to those involved in the Waterford project, which was also in Kenya, we decided that it was the best country for us.” And so the Westport/Aror Partnership began.
Though the two towns and their peoples are a long way apart, both in distance and circumstance, the project has endured the tests of famine, war and time, and 25 years on it has become a testament to one community’s determination to help another less fortunate. The Westport/Aror partnership is now the longest established initiative of its kind in Ireland.
By the time the committee first visited Kenya in the mid-eighties the people there had not seen rain in almost three years and were on the cusp of a famine that would devastate countries in the horn of Africa, in particular their northerly neighbour Ethiopia.
“It was 1985,” recalls Michael O’Donnell. “There was a lot of sickness and hunger in Kenya back then. I remember the people rummaging in the dust looking for grains from the failing crops to eat. They were badly malnourished and the children had Kwashiorkor bellies (caused by lack of protein in the diet) and were covered in flies. They were lucky they never got hit with the famine like other sub-Saharan African countries at that time and, though the progress has been gradual, their situation has improved dramatically in the past 25 years. They have livestock and crops now and are self-sustaining people.”
Aror is a settlement of 18,000 people, located in the Kerio valley in north-west Kenya. The vast majority of people there live in huts on the hillsides – which Michael O’Donnell likens to the Erriff valley between Westport and Leenane without the vegetation and fresh flowing water. The town itself is a very simple place and has very few permanent structures. There is one medical centre, which is funded and operated by the Westport/Aror Partnership and managed on their behalf by the Sisters of St Joseph of Tarbes. The importance of the facility is illustrated by the fact that the nearest hospital is a four-hour drive on ramshackle roads from a place where very few people have access to transport. The medical centre has 24 beds, an ambulance, mobile clinic and a full-time medical officer and nursing staff.
It has been the main focus of the partnership since its founding though other funding has also been made available for minor projects such as education initiatives, agricultural development and community health through outreach clinics.
“The building was there so we decided to make it a fully functioning medical centre,” says Michael O’Donnell. “We built staff quarters and installed solar-powered lighting. We also re-equipped the centre and maternity room and built a lab for carrying out tests, which is now operated by two technicians. The matron there and driver were also trained using money from Westport and we had to bring fresh water down from the mountains to the centre which was another project. The place is immaculately kept and even has a fruit garden out the back. It is fully indigenised and is essentially locals looking after locals. We manage it from a distance and we can see that people are much healthier now than they were even five years ago. I would say it is one of the finest medical centres in the Great Rift Valley.”
Since that first trip to Aror members of the committee have visited Kenya on a biennial basis to see the progress at the centre and plan for its future. Michael O’Donnell is quick to note that while he has had a hands-on involvement in the partnership for the last quarter century many other people have contributed much time and hard work to developing the community in Aror over the years, and deserve much of the credit for the tangible progress that has been made there.
High on his list are all those from the Westport area and beyond who have donated to the cause over the years. The local schools have also played a role in raising awareness of the situation in Aror through education, while the many people who have served on the committee and travelled to Kenya over the years have been instrumental in the enduring partnership.
Mr O’Donnell also heaps praise on the Medical Missionaries of Mary who were pivotal to the success of the centre in its formative and middle years through their management of it on the ground in Aror.
The Westport/Aror Partnership has become a model for other charitable partnerships in recent years with over 20 communities in Mayo, Galway and Roscommon looking to to the Westport/Aror relationship as a blueprint for similar partnerships in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique. The partnership, which has been recognised by the Holy See for services to the developing world, is funded entirely by donations from the people of Westport through fasts and other such initiatives, and raises an annual average amount of €30,000 - a long way from the £200 they raised in their first operational year back in 1982. To date they have donated over €450,000 to Aror.
The Westport/Aror Partnership are planning to mark their twenty-fifth anniversary in November and are hopeful that Bishop Cornelius Korir from the diocese of Eldoret in Kenya will be able to attend, as part of a trip he has planned to Europe later this year.
