{"id":3244,"date":"2021-03-18T14:45:33","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T14:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/?p=3244"},"modified":"2021-03-18T14:45:35","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T14:45:35","slug":"goal-founder-john-oshea-speaks-to-ty-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/goal-founder-john-oshea-speaks-to-ty-students\/","title":{"rendered":"GOAL FOUNDER JOHN O’SHEA SPEAKS TO TY STUDENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 1<\/span>st<\/span> of March, all Transition Year students were given the <\/span>wonderful<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>opportunity<\/span>\u00a0to take part in an on-line workshop with\u00a0<\/span>John O\u2019Shea<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0a Dublin\u00a0<\/span>journalist and founder of th<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>aid charity\u00a0<\/span>Goal<\/span><\/i>. The\u00a0<\/span>experiences and stories John had to share were inspiring to all involved. For many\u00a0<\/span>people,<\/span>\u00a0the workshop has really sown the seed of social<\/span>\u00a0entrepreneurship and the value of volunteerism. In a transition year with many\u00a0<\/span>changes because of the pandemic, this<\/span>\u00a0was a fantastic opportunity to greater our understanding of the wider world.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1977 John O\u2019Shea<\/span>\u00a0visited Kolkata<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(Calcutta), he was moved by the amount of street children he saw all\u00a0<\/span>living in horrible conditions whilst on his trip. This encouraged John to do something to help these child<\/span>ren and others like them. In the same year John and four\u00a0<\/span>of his friends founded the aid organisation Goal to help the poorest people of our world. Now 4<\/span>4 years later<\/span>\u00a0Goal<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is\u00a0<\/span>an especially important<\/span>\u00a0aid agency to many communities around the world. Since 1977 Goal has worked\u00a0<\/span>in communities in over 60 countries. They have responded in many times of crisis such as the famine in\u00a0<\/span>Uganda, the genocide in Cambodia and the Rwandan genocide. In\u00a0<\/span>1984\u00a0<\/span>Ethiopia experienced the largest famine ever to be recorded.\u00a0<\/span>Goal responded with hundreds of staff including nurses,\u00a0<\/span>doctors,<\/span>\u00a0and engineers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There was one observation made by John O\u2019Shea that really remains with me. We hear in school, the media or in life in general\u00a0<\/span>about the \u201c<\/span>D<\/span>eveloping\u00a0<\/span>W<\/span>orld\u201d or the \u201c<\/span>T<\/span>hird\u00a0<\/span>W<\/span>orld\u201d<\/span>\u00a0so it was strange to me when John used the term \u201cforgotten world<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0He talked abou<\/span>t how he had worked in these counties for\u00a0<\/span>over\u00a0<\/span>40 years and had never seen any \u201cdeveloping\u201d<\/span>, the people of these countries instead were \u201cforgotten\u201d. Hence the term \u201cforgotten world<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Aid agencies like Goal and many others along with missionaries and members of the EU and UN, work\u00a0<\/span>tirelessly<\/span>\u00a0to alleviat<\/span>e\u00a0<\/span>the suffering of the \u201cforgotten world\u201d but it is often not enough.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>The scale\u00a0<\/span>of the problem is far too vast. John told the story of a nun\u00a0<\/span>who worked in Ethiopia for 30 years. She said that about 15 million people were in danger of\u00a0<\/span>losing<\/span>\u00a0their l<\/span>ives from starvation.<\/span>\u00a0Despite their optimum efforts, how could a few hundred aid people solve such a wide scale\u00a0<\/span>issue<\/span>?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We can listen to facts and figures all\u00a0<\/span>day,<\/span>\u00a0but nothing really impacts us more than real stories.<\/span>\u00a0Among many stories John had to tell<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0this one by far remained in my mind. After h<\/span>e<\/span>\u00a0return<\/span>ed<\/span>\u00a0from his\u00a0<\/span>first visit to Ethiopia, John was horrified by what he experienced. He<\/span>\u00a0went to talk to a school in Ske<\/span>r<\/span>ries, north county Dublin about the life conditions of children their own\u00a0<\/span>age in Ethiopia. During his\u00a0<\/span>talk,<\/span>\u00a0a young boy stood up and sai<\/span>d \u201cMr O\u2019Shea, my daddy has a\u00a0<\/span>boat,<\/span>\u00a0and he will go to Ethiopia and collect all the hungry babies\u00a0<\/span>and bring them back to Sker<\/span>r<\/span>ies to fatten them up and when their all fattened\u00a0<\/span>up,<\/span>\u00a0he will bring them back to Ethiopia and we will all live happily ever after<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0The love that child showed for children he never even met was inspiring. Such a simple solution to such a complex issue.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We hear so much about the issue of refugees or migrants but behind the news stories are real people. John talk<\/span>ed about\u00a0<\/span>families<\/span>\u00a0at the border<\/span>s practically<\/span>\u00a0begging for a \u201csafe haven<\/span>;\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>however,<\/span>\u00a0the international community\u00a0<\/span>takes little action to help them.<\/span>\u00a0What if we could convince\u00a0<\/span>every<\/span>\u00a0country even just within the EU to take in a certain number\u00a0<\/span>of refugees<\/span>, anything would make a difference. John was lucky enough to meet\u00a0<\/span>Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela<\/span>. A question John asked\u00a0<\/span>both of them<\/span>\u00a0was \u201cWhat can I do to help<\/span>?<\/span>\u201d\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>they\u00a0<\/span>said,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cby saving the life of one person you are doing something extraordinary<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If we can take anything from the touching experiences of John O\u2019Shea, it would be that we can make a difference. The international\u00a0<\/span>community needs to intervene. They hear the pain\u00a0<\/span>filled cries of the \u201cforgotten world\u201d yet they do not listen<\/span>. John has spent the last seven years visiting schools to encourage young people to do good for the \u201cforgotten world<\/span>\u201d because we are the future not only of our own country but of the world<\/span>. The difference we can make without even leaving our desk is astounding. We can get our laptop, phone or good\u00a0<\/span>old-fashioned<\/span>\u00a0pen and paper and communicate with world leaders and people of importance<\/span>, to open their eyes to the struggles of people in the \u201cforgotten world\u201d and encourage them to not only hear their cries but listen to them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By H. Fennessy – Transition Year<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 1st of March, all Transition Year students were given the wonderful\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to take part in an on-line workshop with\u00a0John O\u2019Shea,\u00a0a Dublin\u00a0journalist and founder of the\u00a0aid charity\u00a0Goal. The\u00a0experiences and stories John had to share were inspiring to all involved. For many\u00a0people,\u00a0the workshop has really sown the seed of social\u00a0entrepreneurship and the value of volunteerism. In a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recentposts","category-ty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3246,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3244\/revisions\/3246"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scoilmhuiretrim.info\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}