This article is from page 25 of the 2010-02-23 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 25 JPG
OF ALL the connections which have become a hallmark of the Building of Hope projects, Fr Martin Keane’s family involvement in the effort has to be the most celebratory.
For the first time in his 40 years in Africa, he is surrounded by family.
aUiXe MuHa Comm aslo] mmc) peLeleCeyer-V mmpasleyeereanls was when he was surprised with a visit from his sister, Kathy (79), who has fundraised but has never visited him before.
‘To come out here and to see what
all those years of support and fund- raising were about — that’s very spe- cial to my aunt and to Martin,” said Mary Kileen, who is volunteering on the project with her daughter and Fr Martin’s grandniece, Roisin (18).
‘When Olive (Halpin) told him two years ago that the Building of Hope would come here, it was like all his birthdays came together.”
Mary’s husband, Eugene came with an earlier group to be part of the project as did her two brothers.
John and Larry Culligan, Martin’s nephew, Pat has also been out as part
of the crew along with another niece, Marie. “His joke is that he never gets visitors and now he has them all at once,’ said Mary.
“It’s great to be here as family to support him but there are also all the people in Lissycasey who supported 30 of us to come here. In these harsh times they gave so generously. We organised a bed-push and raised €27,000. We started with a Wren and that raised €1,900 — that’s unbe- lieveable money the way things are Te) Aa
Roisin says it is “amazing to be on
Fr Martin’s patch — normally, we see him when he comes home for visits but when you see this, you really know what it’s all about.”
The NUIG student had to explain to one of her lecturers that between getting up at the crack of dawn and painting for Ireland all day, her plan to meet a essay dealine for next week had gone awry.
‘He gave me an extension for three weeks after I come back. People are being so supportive, so marvellous,” she said.
Speaking about the surprise visit
from Fr Martin’s sister, Roisin’s grandmother, she said it has “taken ten years off Nana’s age — all these years she has supported him and now she’s come to see him. It’s great.”
A delighted Fr Martin said that he is “so happy to have all this support from family and the community at home. They have been so good to travel all this way, to work on the project and for the opening. I’m so very happy and I can’t thank the peo- ple of Clare and all the other coun- ties involved enough for what they have done here.”