This article is from page 32 of the 2008-04-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 32 JPG
NEXT Sunday, April 27, hun- dreds will descend on Liscannor to take part in the Burren Chernobyl Project’s annual 10k walk.
Funds raised from this years walk, which starts from the Liscannor Ho- tel at lpm, will be directed towards the adult facility of Tarasik1.
The facility, which is home to more than 400 people, has been the focus of repair works over the last 5 years. These works have been led by Lis- cannor builder Kevin O’Sullivan.
“lve been going over there for 14 years now. We do a lot of construc- tion and repair work for them over there; we put in showers, toilets, ba- Sic sanitation, putting down floors –
anything that can make it more com- fortable for the patients over there,” said Kevin.
‘We have been to several different places down the years but we have been focusing on Tarasiki lately. We have been going there for the last 5 years. We have a good group, here is about 15 of us from all over the Coes as
“They are in very bad conditions over there. There are four big blocks over there and we are working on three of them. One of the blocks is almost finished and we have about 65 windows put into the other blocks.
“Whenever we can we try and get the patients working with us. It’s very important for them, it’s like oc- cupational therapy for them. They
love it when we go over. That’s our aim, to get them involved as much as we can at all. Some of them are very good workers.”
The work in Tarasiki is hard, but there is something about the expe- rience that keep volunteers coming back year after year.
“It’s very emotional for the people who go over for the first time. But I have built up a great bond over the year – I’d have no problem hug- ging them and having the craic with them,’ continued Kevin.
“There is a lot of sadness, but any- one who goes there will tell you that it is one of the best times of their life. It’s better than any holiday. You get so much out of it, people might say that you’re great for going out and
helping but you’re not. You get so much out of it.
“This year we are really trying to get a lot of plywood and lino. Mc- Mahons in Limerick have been very good to us over the last 4 or 5 years. Any sponsorship like that is a great great help.”
Sponsorship cards are available from the project office in Ennisty- mon at 7071130 but people can also come along on the day.