Mitchelstown nurse fundraising for trip to Kenya
Ahead of a life changing volunteer trip to Kenya, nurse Mary Finn from Mitchelstown will be fundraising locally to raise what she needs for this trip with The Friends of Londiani.
Mary is just 26 and is working as a nurse in the Mercy University Hospital in Cork and so she feels that her experience in healthcare will help her to bring a lot to the people she will encounter and visit in Londiani.
To kickstart the fundraising, she will be doing a bucket collection outside Tesco Mitchelstown this Friday, October 18, and then Carole Bradley is hosting a coffee evening on the same day.
Claire O'Connell of Diva and Rosemary Walsh of Off The Rails also donated 10% of their takings from last Saturday to Mary, there are now collection buckets in both outlets and all support would be greatly appreciated.
Mary has never done anything like this before and the idea came from a girl she lives with in Cork who works in A&E and has gone there before and she always wanted to volunteer abroad.
"I always wanted to be a nurse and I always wanted to volunteer in an orphanage, my neighbours adopted an Ethiopian girl and when this opportunity came up, I jumped at the chance," she told The Avondhu.
Mary will be going over for three weeks from November 1 until November 24 and she has to raise €1,900 to go over and €1,000 for the charity.
Explaining what she will be doing, Mary said that she will be teaching people life skills, and teaching young girls about puberty and sexual respect, and also about different cultural values.
"I'll also be teaching wilderness first aid, as the nearest hospital is four hours away by donkey and what they learn could save someone's life, because by the time they get to the hospital it could be too late," Mary said.
Herself and the other health care professionals will also be vaccinating babies against a number of locally specific diseases, as well as making a map of the area, showing places to find water and roads, which is something that the village they are going to doesn't have. There are almost 20 people from different trades and backgrounds of all different ages travelling over together.
All support would be greatly appreciated and Mary's parents Sean and Bernadette Finn also have a sponsorship card.
Published:
Thursday 17th October 7:29pm
