Press Reports 2009 & 2010
WEST KERRY LIVE
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| Hope Guatemala would like to thank all runners and sponsors for their help in
raising €8,000 in the Dingle Marathon. Besides many Irish runners both local and
from other counties, we had runners from Poland, England, and Germany running on
our behalf. We would especially like to thank Jonathan Flannery for his brave attempt
at the Ultimate Marathon. Hope Guatemala works with the Native Mayan people and the area we are helping was badly hit by storms and landslides for the second time in three months. As Hope Guatemala has no administrative costs all the monies raised will go directly to buy urgently needed clean water, food and medicine for the people who have lost lives, crops, animals, houses and schools. Nearly 300 people have lost their lives, and this money will help them in the rebuilding of their communities. On their behalf we would like to say - Go raibh míle maith agaibh go leir. |
WEST KERRY LIVE
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| At the end of January Eddy Dieckmann founder member of Hope Guatemala and Norbert
Elbeshausen who is involved in the sister organisation in Germany traveled together to
Guatemala. Hope Guatemala has been working with the indigenous people (Mayan) of this area over the course of the past 5 years providing support for different projects that help in improving the overall living conditions of die people. These projects included the building of houses, education of the children, providing storage tanks for water etc. Eddy and Norbert Were going out to Raxnam to help and oversee the building of a multipurpose Community Centre for the people of the village, which was planned by Norbert who is an architect and carpenter. They had only 4 weeks to complete the task. The start of the adventure was when they arrived in the highlands of Alta Verapaz and realised that the building of the centre would have to be built more or less by man, woman and child power. The site of the centre is in a beautiful location on the side of a mountain overlooking the village. The people's expectations were high and they were willing to give their labour, however the logistics of die operation appeared daunting to Eddy and Norbert to say at least. The people first had to demolish huge boulders with pick axes in order to get a level site. This was slow and tedious work. They then had to transport up the mountainside 50 ton of gravel and sand, 10 ton of cement, 6,000 building blocks, 5,ooo roof tiles, water to mix the cement and roof timbers. This was carried out by the people of the village on their backs. There was no mechanical help in the mixing of the cement for the foundation and base or the block laying and even the sand had to be hand riddled. In spite of set-backs encountered, the Community Centre was nearly completed in 4 weeks due to the trojan effort of everyone concerned. Along with the centre being used for meetings, for educational and for recreational purposes, it also has facilities to provide eco tourist hostel type accommodation. It is hoped that eco tourism will provide a much need financial benefit to the area in the long term. Although there was a lot of hard work and stress at times the people of the community took to the task willingly and with enthusiasm. They approached the work with courtesy and good humour and at all times they were warm, friendly and open to how they could improve their living conditions of themselves. and their families. The farewell reception the villagers gave to Eddy and Norbert was very moving and one they will never forget. |
THE KERRYMAN
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| THE success of any event is best judged by public reaction and the reaction to
Saturday's inaugural Dingle marathon has been over-whelming. West Kerry has never
seen such an influx of people for a sporting event and some estimates put the
numbers at between 4,000 and 5,000. The excellent weather conditions at the weekend and the immediate recognition that attaches to the name 'Dingle' coupled with the support of local organisations and volunteers all helped to guarantee the success of the event. Runners and supporters began to assemble early in the Waterside area in Dingle on Saturday morning. Some gathered in groups and wore identical tee-shirts which declared the name of the charity that would benefit from their |
efforts. Others limbered up on the marina breakwater while queues of people
availed of the portaloo facilities. The first man home was John Griffin from Tralee who won the Dublin marathon in 1988 and 1989. Two brothers finishing in the top spots is remarkable enough but what is even more remarkable is that this was Stephen's first marathon. Kerry runners continued to dominate the top places with Marie Houlihan from Tralee being the first woman home and Ailise Deane from Camp taking third spot. One runner said the marathon route around West Kerry "was heaven to watch but hell to run" while Marie Houlihan described the event as "absolutely gorgeous". |
A stream of runners crossing Milltown Bridge |
| Press Reports for 2008 |
| Press Reports for 2011 |
Jonathan Flannery |
THE KERRYMAN
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| MORE than 200 people took part in Sunday's annual charity walk/run/cycle in
aid of Hope Guatemala in Dingle. The turnout represents a 50 per cent increase in participants over last year's event. Registration was held in the Goat Street Café where young and old paid over their entry fee and collected their numbers. One of the first family groups to register were the Ó Cinnéides from Marthain, near Ballyferriter and a group of Coláiste Íde students signed up as well. Hope Guatemala's director Eddy Dieckmann gave instructions about the route before signaling the start of the event. "This is a great family day out and a special day for the children to remember. We hope to raise €4,000 today and the money will go towards sending Guatemalan village children to school," he told The Kerryman. Conditions were excellent for the outing to Ventry strand and then on to Páidí Ó Sé's for food and entertainment. |
Georgina and Kila Massett waiting for the start of the Hope Guatemala charity walk on Sunday. |
WEST KERRY LIVE
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| Like in previous years Hope Guatemala was again able fulfill its promises
in 2009. As the organisation has no administration costs the money raised at
the charity walk/run in April and that raised by some of the runners in the
Dingle Marathon in September could go directly to the projects. The only source
of water to the community of Raxnam in the highlands of Guatemala is a well, approx.
2km away from the village. One of the projects in 2009 consisted of building water
storage tanks, so that water could be gathered during the monsoon season. Another
project included a sponsorship scheme which supported families in sending their children
to school. The scheme aims to ensure that children can stay at school rather than having
to drop out to help families in the fields and at home. On the 26th January 2010 Eddy Dieckmann from Hope Guatemala and his friend Norbert from the sister organisation Nuevo Dia (Germany) will once again travel to Guatemala for 4 weeks. Their aim is, together with local people to build a multifunctional community centre in Raxnam. Norbert who is an architect and carpenter drafted the building plans and the list of materials that will be needed. Eddy will be responsible for sourcing all building materials which will have to be brought manually into the village as there is no access by road. The project will depend solely on man power as there is no machinery available. Clearly this is a big task for a small organisation like Hope Guatemala, however the centre will mean a dream coming true for the locals "a house with a toilet" which can be used for meetings and educational purposes. Additionally once the centre is built Hope Guatemala and its partners hope to set up an eco-tourism project. The centre will provide a few beds for backpackers and the project could prove a small source of income for the community. This will hopefully be a further step in achieving the long term aim of Hope Guatemala this being that the community of Raxnam will one day be completely self sufficient. This years charity walk/run will be on Sunday 25th April. |
