A group of NUI Galway students will walk the 70 kilometres from Ennis to Galway this weekend while carrying large volumes of water to raise funds for an Irish development charity working in Nepal.
Members of the NUIG Draoicht Society will undertake the walk while carrying between five and 20 litres of water each. The volunteers will leave Ennis at 12 noon tomorrow (Friday ) and walk 37 kilometres to Gort. They will continue their journey on Saturday, making the 35 kilometre trip from Gort to Galway.
Funds raised from the walk will go towards the construction of a new healthcare centre in the village of Talamarang in Nepal, where women and children regularly carry out a similar journey. Development group Draiocht hopes to highlight the challenges that people all over the world face trying to gain access to something as essential as clean water.
Draiocht founder and Ennis native Melanie Hennessy, 20, who is currently studying medicine in NUI Galway, said she realises that the walk will be difficult but feels strongly about the positive impact that the clinic could have on the village.
“We know that this walk won’t be easy and that water is heavy,” she said. “These people really need this facility. At one stage three of the 10 children we were caring for in our orphanage were orphans because their mothers had died giving birth to them. Most of the women who die giving birth die from easily preventable causes. By building this health clinic we hope to give those women and those families a chance.”
Draiocht also aims to lower the high infant mortality and maternal death rates in the village. According to the UN Nepal has an infant mortality rate or 53 per 1,000, 11 times higher than Ireland.
Founded in 2007 to provide for orphans in Talamarang, Draiocht has already established an orphanage in the village and was instrumental in the construction of a large school in the same Talamarang district in association with Nepali organisation Team Nepal. Last year the school topped the league table in exam results in the Nepali equivalent of the Leaving Certificate, the SLC.
This summer 14 volunteers will travel to Nepal to work in areas such as teaching in the school and caring for the children in the orphanage as well as constructing the clinic.
For further information, or to donate or volunteer, visit www.draiochtnepal.org
