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A Tralee grandmother has this week spoken of the wonderful benefits of volunteering overseas, crediting her work in Kenya with blowing her mind and changing her outlook on life forever.
2-year-old Joan O’Regan, who lives in Ballymullen in Tralee, was this past week recounting the time she has spent volunteering in Kericho County in Kenya with the Irish Non-governmental organisation (NGO), Brighter Communities Worldwide.
Joan, a retired French teacher who taught in St Michael’s College in Listowel, began her volunteering journey started when, while holiday in Nairobi to visit her son, Jack, she had a fortuitous chance meeting with the co-counder of the charity Maria Kidney from Cork.
“I was visiting my son Jack who lives in Nairobi and on the bus journey from the Airport I got chatting to this very lively, bubbly Corkonian! She was full of life and energy and regaled me with stories about the many projects the charity started in Kericho County. That bus journey flew; I was so interested in the various stories of their health, education and income generating programmes and let me tell you, once you meet Maria Kidney you don’t forget her! I met her again at an event in the Irish Kenyan Society and she persuaded me to volunteer,” said Joan.
Taking the plunge, Joan and a few of her friends from the Tralee Mountain Club went to an area in Kenya called Ndubusat where they helped to develop the sustainable tourism project there, Joan said that she enjoyed this work so much, she went back again in 2019.
“I went back three years ago and helped to facilitate the Life Skills courses. These courses are basic skills that people can use in their everyday lives and crucially, pass onto others”. For example I saw how building little smokeless stoves makes such a massive difference in people’s lives. It’s not a huge thing in our world, it is monumental in theirs, it’s life changing”, she said.
“It was hard for people to do the life skills courses, for instance they had to take time off work, not an easy task. They had to get to the venue which was very difficult for them as they had lots of terrain to traverse and in the majority of cases had to walk miles. However, they showed great determination and thirst for learning. That was the constant thread in all my dealings with the people there, their hunger for learning and knowledge. It is remarkable and so refreshing. They are so immersed in the community, it means the world to them,” Joan continued.
“They have so little but yet they can smile, they can laugh, they are a joyful people. It’s beautiful to witness and it changed my outlook completely. I go with the flow now, I’m not as fearful. It’s a great freedom really and one that I am so grateful for,” she added.
Going on, Joan revealed that her sister has started volunteering now as well as she urged that anyone who has been thinking about giving volunteering a chance, to go for it and that you won’t regret it.
Finally, Joan said that the charity’s annual Kenya Ball on the November 12 in the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork and this is always a tremendous social occasion, and crucially a very important part of their fundraising efforts.
For more information on the charity or to donate, visit https://www.brightercommunities.org/
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