Darfur - GOALie nurse Emily Begg at work
any time, but it becomes even more so when one
considers the present economic plight and the
terrible hardships being suffered by the Irish
taxpayer, who after all is footing the bill,” says
O’Shea. “This type of government-to-government
aid must be stopped.”
Today, more than 100 GOALies and thousands of
local staff are helping GOAL to deliver on a range
of humanitarian programmes in the developing
world.
“Despite the economic downturn, GOAL is
operational in 12 countries and thanks to the
tremendous support of the Irish public and others,
we have been able to continue our other activities
while helping people recover from dreadful
tragedies, such as Haiti and Pakistan,” said Mr.
O’Shea.
“Their generosity allowed us, for instance, to
distribute food to nearly half a million people
in Haiti, while an $11.5 million dollar contract
with the US government is seeing us build 2,000
transitional shelters and several hundred latrines
and shower and hand-wash blocks for almost one
million Haitians still without a home.”
In response to the outbreak of cholera in Port-auPrince late last year, GOAL is striving to mitigate
and control the disease in the 38 temporary
settlements currently under the organisation’s care,
by helping to ensure that the people have access
to clean water and sanitation facilities, and by
distributing hygiene kits.
“Midway through 2010, GOAL responded to the
flooding in Pakistan that left 20 million people in
need of humanitarian assistance. We are continuing
our relief efforts there by distributing non-food
items such as shelter and hygiene equipment, and
providing emergency latrines and bathing shelters,”
added John O’Shea.
Apart from these major humanitarian emergencies,
GOAL has remained heavily involved in long-term
development programmes in 10 countries across the
developing world.
These include South Sudan, where GOAL is
the sole provider of access to primary healthcare
services to some 560,000 people.
GOAL also recently completed the first phase of a
major housing programme for orphans in Uganda.
Since it was established three years ago, this
programme has renovated or built more than 1,050
new homes for thousands of orphans and families
who have been affected by HIV and AIDS in the
east African country.
Prior to taking ownership of their new brickbuilt homes, which cost just €4,500 to construct,
the families had been living in makeshift shacks,
grass houses or leaking mud huts. Without easily
accessible clean water or latrines, poor health and
disease were rife.
“In some respects,” says John O’Shea, “it’s sad
and disappointing that an agency such as GOAL
is still required by the poorest of the poor in the
developing world – but as long as needs are there
and we have the support of the Irish community
and others, we will continue to respond effectively
to natural d isasters and humanitarian tragedies
wherever they occur.”
GOAL can be contacted at PO Box 19, Dun
Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland;
on 00 353 (0)1 2809 779, or by visiting www.goal.ie
117