Press Reports 2008
THE KERRYMAN
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A REPORT on the on-going work of the west Kerry based charity
Hope Guatemala will be presented at a public meeting in the Blasket Centre,
Dún Chaoin, on Sunday by Máire Ruiséal, a member of the
charitable organisation. Máire teaches at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne and spent a number of weeks in the Central American country in July and August. "I wanted to get first-hand experience of what life is like for the community in the village of Raxnam, which is the focus of our support there. It's a very remote community and there isn't even a road for motor vehicles into the village. Facilities there were very basic and I did miss the comforts that we take for granted here," she told The Kerryman. "The women have a difficult life because they're treated as second-class citizens. The men won't allow them to use contraceptives so they keep having babies from the age of 14 up. The women get up at 4am to get the cooking fires going. The men get up several hours later and, after breakfast, they head off to work in the fields. The main cash crops are coffee and maize," she explained. "Maize is a cultural icon almost like the potato was here in bygone days. All |
meals are of maize, which is served up in different guises but I
couldn't tell the difference between breakfast, lunch and evening meals although
they did kill a chicken as a special treat while I was there. The people are very
poor and they don't even have furniture in their homes. There's a women's
cooperative in the village with a small shop and a corn mill. But I found it frustrating
trying to communicate because, while I have fluent Spanish the villagers didn't
speak Spanish," Máire said. Spanish is the country's official language but it's spoken by only half the population. There are many different ethnic communities in Guatemala who speak their own languages. "Hope Guatemala has been helping to develop educational needs, especially for young people in the village and trying to give them some hope for the future. We also have a water tank project going there at present which, we hope, will eventually provide fresh water for all the homes in the village. The villagers were embarrassingly grateful for the help we're providing," Máire said. The report on her visit to Guatemala will begin at 4pm on Sunday and all are welcome. |
THE KERRYMAN |
Charity walk raises Hopes and €6,000 | |
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AROUND 130 people of all ages took part in Sunday's charity
walk/run/cycle from Dingle to Ventry in aid of Hope Guatemala. There was a wet
start to the event but the weather improved dramatically within minutes of the
walkers leaving Goat Street. Many other supporters avoided the vagaries of the weather and drove to the finishing point at Paidi 0 Se's pub, which boosted the post walk gathering to around 250 people in total. The planned children's beach festival looked like being abandoned because of the weather but the improved conditions meant it was able to go ahead. Meanwhile, the organisers laid on refreshments in the pub for the participants who were entertained by musicians of various genres. "We had the youngest rock band on the peninsula in the pub to entertain the crowd and it was their first public gig. Four of the five members were just 14 years of age and they played stunning music. I don't think they have a name for the band yet and when they finished everyone, including the older patrons, wanted them to play again," organiser |
Eddy Dieckmann told The Kerryman. Further musical entertainment was provided by the Granvilles and their friends. The event is expected to raise in the region of €6,000 for the aid agency which has been helping the Mayan community in Guatemala to combat poverty and deprivation. "Our next project is to provide the village of Raxnam with fresh water. At present the village girls and women spend their days collecting water from a spring a long way from the village. So we've decided to give all these families water storage tanks to collect water in the rainy season. The tanks will hold about 7,500 litres of water each. This is a big project and may take two years or more because each tank will cost €250. They tried to build a reservoir in the past but it didn't work out," Mr Dieckmann explained. "In the past year we have raised enough money, through various events in West Kerry, to provide 20 water tanks. The money raised from the charity walk will be a major boost to our efforts there," he added. |
| Press Reports for 2009 & 2010 |
| Press Reports for 2011 |
THE KERRYMAN
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| A DINGLE teacher hopes to foster links between West Kerry
schoolchildren and their counterparts in a native Mayan area of Guatemala in
Central America. Next month, Maire Ruiseal, who teaches in Pobalscoil Chorea Dhuibhne will be heading off to Guatemala to do voluntary work for the relief agency "Hope Guatemala". 'I'll be there until the middle of August and will be working in a medical clinic and a local school. I hope to make links between that school and the Pobalscoil. I also hope to collect profiles of some of the Mayan children and try and secure local sponsors in West Kerry to fund the children's educational needs in Guatemala,' she told The Kerryman this week. The West Kerry-based relief organisation "Hope Guatemala" has been promoting goodwill projects among needy communities in the Central America country for the past several years. The organisation was set up by Eddy Dieckmann who lives in Ventry. |
THE KERRYMAN
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