SPORTING CHANCE:The right to sport - and the discipline and commitment it brings - is the motive behind a small but powerful Irish partnership called Stride Ethiopia, writes Patsey Murphy
WHAT ARE Irish people doing involved in athletics in Ethiopia, the home of good running, you might ask? Stride Ethiopia is an Irish charity that works in partnership with the local community in Yirgalem, a poor rural province south of Addis Ababa. There's a powerful story behind it. Since 2001, it has funded a running club and provides direct nutrition as well as education and some health care for 75 young athletes. And it's growing.
"Stride is a chance for kids to have some fun away from their
often back-breaking lives of hard, adult-appropriate work while
developing themselves through the commitment and discipline that
sport requires," says Emer Woodful, one of the founders of Stride,
who first visited Ethiopia as a reporter for RTÉ. Another
founder is Mick Bourke. "We have some excellent young athletes
coming through and competing at national level. Mick Bourke is back
in Ethiopia until September.
The local committee is now working on levelling the running
track in Yirgalem and we hope to have the world marathon record
holder, Haile Gebrselassie, down to open the improved track when it
is finished. He is a good friend to Stride," Woodful says. Irish
Olympic 5,000 metres silver medallist Sonia O'Sullivan has also
provided a boost for Stride's thletes.
"We started a feeding programme last year as the children
simply weren't getting enough food, and food shortages are kicking
in down where we are in southern Ethiopia," explains Woodful.
"Deirdre Walsh, a senior nutritionist and development
consultant, is about to join the board, as is Deirdre Murray, who
has been working in Ethiopia for many years for Goal and who
returned to Dublin this month to become director of Comhlamh.
We started an English-language programme last year, as all
education is though English in Ethiopia, and we are hoping to get
some university scholarships for some of the youths. We also
encourage the children to stay in school, and sponsor some of the
most needy children to stay in education. Traditionally the girls
leave school very early and have very little opportunity.
We are very happy that the girls are really so involved in
the club and are doing so well - 24 of the girls went to Addis
recently to take part in the women's Confidence Run. The girls also
recently won the regional relay finals, for example.
"Top Irish coach Eddie McDonagh plans to return to Yirgalem
to run skills courses again this summer. We have three Ethiopian
coaches working with us now, so there's a great exchange of skills.
"Stride is very much a partnership project driven by the
local committee and elected by the club members. We believe in the
maxim as set out in the opening of the book The Architect Without
Shoes, as told to me by Fr Pat Clarke, who has been working in the
barrios of Brazil for 30 years. It says: 'When a king dies, they
say: 'Look at the great buildings he built'. When a great king
dies, they say: 'Look at the great buildings we built'. We may do
things slowly, slowly, but we believe the locals must have
ownership of the project if it is to be what they want and if it is
to work.
"All of our funds are raised privately, and the directors and
members take no monies whatsoever from the project. The
Communications Workers' Union and RTÉ's One World Fund have
been generous supporters." For the complete story behind Stride and
its progress over the past seven years, see the clips, photographs
and reports on its website (
www.strideethiopia.com), which is guaranteed to raise your
spirits. If you are free on Friday,June 20th, there will be a
fundraising Midsummer Gala at the Esplanade Hotel on the Bray
seafront from 7pm. Tickets (or indeed donations) to Emer Woodful,
14 Seapoint Court, Bray, Co Wicklow.