Evelyn in Ireland
By Evelyn Gathuru
First impressions
After a long and cramped flight from Nairobi, followed by a frantic dash through Heathrow Airport, I arrived safe, albeit very tired, in Dublin on Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, my hosts took me for a drive around the Wicklow countryside, which was incredibly lush and scenic. I had been told of the dreary and rainy Irish weather but to my surprise and delight, the weather has been gorgeous for the past week. I must have brought some sunshine with me from Kenya!
While there are lots of difference between Ireland and Kenya, but there are also lots of similarities – the great hospitality for example. Everyone, from my manager Eileen’s family, who hosted me, to my colleagues at World Vision, has been incredibly friendly and welcoming.
The highlight
During my trip to Ireland, two events really stood out for me: a Dochas (association of Irish NGOs) and the sponsorship evening. During these two events, I was amazed by Irish people’s genuine motivation to help the developing world. Ordinary Irish people have been calling and writing to their TDs to urge them to keep their promise to the developing world as well as sponsoring children in our programme areas. As an African I was deeply humbled and completely blown away by this. I couldn’t help but think “Wow, these people I’ve never met before are fighting to ensure that poor people in countries like Kenya have a chance to a better life.”
The logical progression in this line of thinking dictates that I consider the next question: What are we, the citizens of developing countries, doing to help ourselves? What are we doing to ensure that our politicians keep their promises to us?
To be honest, I’ve never phoned or written to my MP. This sort of personal contact with a political representative seems a little intimidating to me. The notion of citizens contacting, let alone, questioning their elected authority is out of the norm in Africa. We’d rather keep our hands clean and so we opt for a detached cynicism instead.
Food for thought
On seeing the determination to improve the quality of life for people in developing countries that the Irish sponsors had, I felt incredibly challenged. These were just ordinary people standing up for what they believe in. The idea of ‘making a difference’ need not be something idealistically abstract and unattainable. Small and simple ideas like sponsoring a child, volunteering your time and expertise to a development agency, writing to your political representatives can make that difference. And if people an ocean away can do it on our behalf, shouldn’t we also be able to do it for ourselves?
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