Article July Week 3 2005
A letter from Brazil
I never ceased to be amazed at the vast amount of magnificent voluntary work undertaken willingly and unselfishly by all sections of the community in this county and my work on Terrace Talk it brings me into contact with a great number of people as they seek a little bit of publicity for whatever events they are organizing. The range of fund raising events is mind boggling. Cycling long distances, running up and down Carranthouil fifteen times, leg waxing, swimming in the lakes of Killarney, calendar and book launches, local lord mayors, fashion shows, head shaving, corporate dinners, a mayors ball, fasting for two days, video launches, web sites etc. etc. Each and every one has had their say on Terrace Talk and all for a great cause.
So when the call came in April requesting attendance at a fund raising event in the Great Southern Killarney refusal was not an option, especially for the cause that necessitated the event. Two lovely young ladies had taken on their young shoulders the huge task of raising enough money to pay their way to Olinda, Brazil where they intended to work with the greatly underprivileged street children there. Linda Kearin is from Milltown and Gemma Healy from Faha . Both girls will be working in a community and educational centre for two months. The centre offers support to up to 200 children, and aims to provide them with a safe environment where they can be thought to develop new skills. Linda and Gemma are helping by teaching English or running classes like IT, theatre or cooking. So one of their funding raising events which I was informed about at a later date after I had agreed to take part was a charity slave auction.
Us slaves were sold to the highest bidder and were only released from our handcuffs when we had agreed to carry out a task. I joined up with my fellow slaves Councilors Niall o Callaghan and Sean O Grady, Kerry footballer Mike Frank Russell, Cllr Michael Healy Rae, and lovely Miss Kerry, Maeve Carey. The girls were very apprensive as to the eventual success of the night, however they need not have worried. A huge crowd turned out, family, friend’s, supporters and admirers were there in great force and the event was an unqualified success. These two exemplary young ladies had put a massive amount of effort into the planning of this unique slave/babe auction and Kenmare estate agent Mark Daly did a marvelous job as auctioneer.
However the highlight of the evening occurred late in the night when who should arrive unexpectedly but one of my sporting heroes the renowned New Zealand All Black rugby player, Zinzan Brooke. He volunteered himself as a slave, selling for 750 euros, and he brought the house down when he and his seven friends performed the legendary All Black war dance The Haka. He later enlightened me that The Haka is an old Maori war dance and an expression of the passion, vigor and identity of the race. Haka reflected the concerns and issues of the time, of defiance and protests, of factual occurrences and events at any given time. And he informed me with great pride since the original All Black team led by Joseph Warbrick the Haka has been closely associated with New Zealand rugby. It’ mystique has evolved along with the fierce determination, commitment and high level of skill which has been the hallmark of New Zeeland’s national game.
Nicola Duggan then manageress of the Royal Hotel raised the greatest cheer of the night as she went up for sale and was purchased by Zinzan for a record 800 euros. This brought the night’s takings to a massive 6,000 euros, so well done to the two ladies and now you can learn all about their work in Brazil as I received this wonderful account via e-mail during the week. I believe it explains all.
Hi Weeshie,
Greetings from Olinda, Brazil. A quick note to give you an update to what we’ve been up to here. As we are now at our halfway mark we are well into the swing of thing at the project. The children we work with spend their mornings working at the rubbish dump scaveningfor thing they can sell or eat in the day. The children are aged between seven and sixteen years old and are very energetic and are great fun. Due to lack of nutrition most of them seem three to four years younger than they actual are and we are still surprised when we find out what age a child is. Once they reach sixteen years of age they leave our project to attend another one for sixteen to nineteen years old. The children have very little, most of them have no shoes and walk through roads with open sewersahich regularly flood-its fun getting to the project on rainy days!!
Linda’s in great demand every day on the volleyball court, and the volleyball game has become a daily event with much at stake, Ireland v Brazil! Meanwhile Gemma spends her time giving piggy-back to the little on whose demands range from “ Vai Tia Vai” (which means go faster, go faster, and Tia is the word they use affectionately for us, it means Aunty! So when you are no longer being called “Gringa”-foreigner_you know you’re in!!) to “Corre corre” (Run Run!)She sometimes has three of them hanging from her at once.
We went to visit another project last week which, from next week on we will be spending a few mornings volunteering at. This project caters for children from four months to sixteen years of age. We plan on spending some of the money we raised at this project. On Tuesday we will be visiting an orphanage, the children there have no beds and sleep on the floors we plan on spending some money there, and we will keep you posted on this Weeshie. The children at this orphanage are children whose parents have been killed or murdered on the streets of Olinda, I’m sure our time at the orphanage will be both challenging and rewarding, however it will be very satisfying to be able to help these children.
To date we have spend 700Euro on sports equipment for the two projects, we bought footballs, volleyballs, handballs and basketballs, several domino sets and team kits. The kids in the morning project had ho football and were trying to figure out a way to raise money to buy one. The children here are very energetic and sport is a great means for them to channel their energy. One of the workers on the project told us that the children have never had anything new bought for them, they get really excited when they get second hand things, she recons they would be ecstatic when presented with new things.
Poverty is immense here, the children literally have nothing, and they come to the project every day in the same clothes. They are incredibly resourceful, they make things out of sticks, stones, and whatever is around them will amuse them. We would like to point out that even though the circumstances of the children are bleak, they are full of energy and always have a smile, hug and kiss for us when we walk through the gates, enough to lift anyone’s spirits.
The money we have raised is going to go a long way towards helping children here, of that we have no doubt. We would like to thank everyone who supported our venture and look forward to showing lots of photos when we return. Weeshie thank you again.
Regards, Gemma and Linda.
Fogra: Next week we look at the great career of Zinzan Brook, related to me by the man himself as I chatted to him following the auction that memorable evening in the Great Southern
Hi Girls, hope you enjoy this, keep in touch
All the best Weeshie
Weeshie's Week 
