FORMER Kerry TD and GAA legend, Jimmy Deenihan, is to undertake a daring Mount Everest base camp trek to raise funds to support Irish humanitarian aid agency, GOAL.
At the age of 67, Mr Deenihan – who is a GOAL board member – has been training for the 5,000 metre expedition over the last six months and he is taking on the challenge with fellow Kerry natives Carly Horan, Claire Trant and Blondie Horan.
GOAL’s plan is to supply a rural community in Eastern Uganda with clean, safe water. The cost of building a new borehole in Uganda, a low-income country with a population of 40 million people, is €6,900, while the cost of rehabilitating a borehole is approximately €2,800.
According to Mr Deenihan, who visited Uganda with GOAL last year, only 39 per cent of the population has access to safe water and sanitation critical for health, dignity and economic productivity. He said he was inspired to undertake his fundraising trek after his visit.
“I saw at first hand the acute need and how access to a clean water supply in the heart of a village transforms lives,” said the former government minister.
“As well as resulting in a decline in diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera, it means women and children don’t have to walk miles every day to get dirty water at a lake or waterhole,” he added.
Mr Deenihan is appealing for support for his fundraising trek which takes place from November 14-30.
“I would love to raise enough money to build at least one new borehole. This relatively small investment can transform hundreds of lives.” he said.
The Finuge man served as Minister for Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Minister of State for the Diaspora and Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry during his political career. He won five All-Ireland Football medals with Kerry.
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