There were many deserving applicants when Vodafone Ireland offered four people the chance to work with a charity for a year. Róisín Ingle, a member of the judging panel, talks to the winners.
More than 150 people answered the call when the Vodafone Ireland Foundation announced it would fund four people to work full-time for a year with the Irish charity of their choice. The tricky part was deciding who should be given the chance to turn their charitable dream into a reality.
I was asked to be on the judging panel for "World of Difference", along with Ray D'Arcy of Today FM, Jan Mottram of Vodafone and Niamh O'Carroll, a media consultant. The 155 entrants were whittled down to eight, and over two days and surprisingly few arguments we decided on the four who will now receive a salary of up to €40,000, along with a grant for expenses.
It's worth mentioning those who didn't make it but whose projects were all deserving of support: Jackie Conlon of the Marie Keating Foundation, an inspirational breast-cancer survivor, who is looking to establish a network of services to enhance the lives of those recovering from the disease; Mary Keogh, a wheelchair user who wants to explore how people with disabilities can be included in the emergency-response plans of development agencies; Paul Mitchell, who is trying to expand the work of Seachange, which supplies small loans to people in developing countries; and Andrina Moore, who, through her involvement in the Rose Project, is working to raise the profile of World Aids Day in Ireland.
It was a humbling experience for us judges. "Having been involved as a judge on the Vodafone New Zealand World of Difference, I was overwhelmed by the standard and volume of applications received for our first World of Difference here in Ireland," says Mottram, the foundation's chairwoman. "People of all ages and backgrounds invested a huge amount of time and energy demonstrating their desire to make a difference to the cause they felt passionate about.
"It was really difficult to choose our final candidates out of so many extraordinary people. I find being part of this programme rewarding, meeting so many selfless people whose generosity is inspiring. Each of our winners has an exceptional story to tell, and I know their ideas, skills and passion will enable them to make a real change to people's lives that will leave a legacy for years to come," she says.
And the World of Difference winners are . . .
ANNE CODY: empowering patients with Ceart
Seven years ago, when Anne Cody began to experience shooting pain from her hips down to her knees, the 52-year-old knew immediately what was wrong. "My mother had very bad arthritis, and I remember seeing her crawl on hands and knees up the stairs because of the pain," she says. When arthritis was confirmed, and the chronic pain worsened, Cody resisted the usual approach of painkillers and steroids and began to research her condition. She modified her diet, exercised more and took cider vinegar three times a day.
"I was religious about it. I cut out tea and coffee, certain foods, such as citrus fruits, peppers and tomatoes, and began swimming daily," she says. "Six months later I began to notice the pain was easing, and eventually all the symptoms went. This was my experience of managing my illness. I wouldn't suggest it would be the same for everyone," she says. Apart from the occasional twinge, she remains free of pain. Last October she took her children backpacking in Japan.
This story dovetails nicely with Cody's World of Difference goal. Working with Ceart, a health partnership in Callan, Co Kilkenny, she will spend the year implementing a patient-led chronic-disease self-management programme that was developed at Stanford University, in the US. Ceart, which is funded by the Health Service Executive, encourages an expectation of recovery rather than acceptance of dependency. It is, she explains, all about empowering patients. "We want to create expert patients with the confidence and motivation to use their own skills, information and the professional services to take effective control over life with a chronic condition," she says. "Research shows that people with chronic illness are often in the best position to know what they need in managing their condition."
It is believed that when they are provided with self-management skills, these "expert patients" can make a tangible impact on their disease and quality of life. "While the number of symptoms does not decrease, their severity and frequency is reduced, which means fewer trips to the doctor and less drugs."
Cody will spend the year putting the programme in place and recruiting patients to be volunteer tutors. The programme will help those with chronic arthritis or back pain, people recovering from brain injuries, stroke or cardiac complications, people with multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease or other debilitating neurological conditions, and people living with cancer or other life-changing ill health.
Cody, who is originally from England, is a former teacher and has worked with the disadvantaged all her life, whether helping teenagers with challenging behaviour or those with disabilities. Her father had polio but, she says, never let his disability hold him back. "He could do things many other men couldn't do. And if he fell on the street we would lift him up and he'd start walking again. He taught me to always look for my own solutions in life," she says. It's a lesson well learned. See www.ceart.ie
DES McDONNELL: tackling computer literacy in the Third World with Camara
"I've always had an interest in Africa and African culture. I don't know where it came from, but I've had it since I was a child," says the 27-year-old from
Co Louth. Four years ago, he spent three months teaching in a school in Cape Town, South Africa. "I became even more interested in Africa, and through teaching I saw the poor conditions of the schools. I was looking for a way to help when I came across Camara," he says.
McDonnell and Camara - which means "he who teaches with experience" - were a match made in information technology heaven. A highly sought-after software developer, he has a first-class honours degree in information and communications technology and a master's degree in multimedia systems.
Camara, when it was established by Cormac Lynch two years ago, was looking for IT-savvy volunteers to help refurbish second-hand computers donated by companies, universities and individuals in Ireland, so they could be sent to schools in sub-Saharan Africa. McDonnell saw an ad on the internet and became one of the charity's first volunteers at its small workshop near the Ha'penny Bridge in Dublin. The charity now operates from Docklands.
"We have expanded our services. We send out groups of volunteers to train African teachers in basic computer literacy and more specialised technology. We also produce computer-training materials and educational multimedia content in areas such as HIV-Aids," says McDonnell.
He has been crucial in the software end of the organisation, developing educational programs that are loaded on to the computers. On a trip with Camara to Ethiopia and Kenya last year he saw first-hand how most schools had no IT or exposure to computers. "We want to kickstart an IT industry in Africa, as well as passing on skills which will allow young people to prepare for mainstream jobs," he says.
As Camara's multimedia team leader, McDonnell will spend his year developing a suite of e-learning applications dealing with social issues, such as drug use and gender equality, that are relevant to young Africans.
He is also hoping to create an online distance-learning programme to be used by both teachers and students. "The first month will be spent in Africa, getting feedback from local people and looking at other projects that will benefit the African school system," he says. "It's a wonderful opportunity."
See www.camara.ie
MICHAEL TIGHE: working in suicide prevention with Pieta House
There is something infectious about Michael Tighe's enthusiasm for Pieta House, the centre for prevention of self-harm and suicide in Lucan, Co Dublin. The 34-year-old had planned to start the Vodafone Foundation job interview with a flashy PowerPoint presentation, but he opted instead for an anecdote. He'd been at a party recently and met a teenage boy who told him that just before Christmas a friend died after shooting himself in the head. Shortly afterwards he began to get depressed himself and tried, unsuccessfully, to end his own life. Tighe told him two things. The first was that it was natural to feel that way after such a traumatic event. The second was that the kind of help he needed was available, free, from Pieta House.
Tighe, an analyst with the National Health Service in Britain for years, began volunteering with Pieta House after he moved home from England. A member of his own family had been on anti-depressants and tried to kill himself. Thanks to that organisation he managed to turn his life around. "He is doing really well now; he is back at work and off the medication," says Tighe. "I just saw what Pieta House was doing, and I wanted to be involved."
Pieta House, established almost a year ago, was set up to offer specialised and intensive treatment to people with suicidal ideas or who exhibit self-harming behaviour. It's a holistic approach involving the family and friends of the individuals being treated.
Clients go through four to six weeks of intensive therapy aimed at lifting their depression, removing negative, despairing thoughts and exchanging reasons for dying with reasons for living.
Tighe is using his skills as an analyst to bring a financially strapped Pieta House to the next level. He'll be reviewing the service and helping to push forward a document called The Pieta Way, which will provide a guideline for similar services that can be rolled out around the country. He hopes to conduct a self-harm survey. "Incredibly, there is currently no statistical evidence around self-harm in this country," he says. He will also be overseeing the public-relations and fundraising side of Pieta House. "In terms of fundraising we've been working on an emotional level up until now, but to expand and generate funds we need to start working on a more evidence-based approach. This job will allow us to do that," he says.
See www.pieta.ie
JOHN McKEEVER: helping ex-prisoners with Jobcare
A majestic ocean liner dominated the first slide of the 48-year-old Belfast man's presentation when he came in to pitch for the job. "I'll tell you why later," he said. First he took us through some statistics on recidivism: 27 per cent of prisoners re-offend within a year of being released, and more than half commit another crime within four years; the cost of keeping one person in prison for a year is about €91,000; in 2005 the prison service cost Irish taxpayers €335 million. "Most people leaving Irish prisons know they haven't been rehabilitated and they know they will reoffend," he said.
A psychology graduate with years of voluntary work in the mental health and HIV-Aids sector behind him, McKeever works with Jobcare, a Fás-funded charitable organisation, in central Dublin. He has devised a personal-development programme called Staying Real, which he hopes to pilot in Mountjoy Prison during his World of Difference year.
"What happens here in most cases is that these people are just dumped back out into society, sometimes without anywhere to go, certainly with no prospects of employment. In other countries the progression from prison to some form of accommodation - and occupation - is worked out well in advance of the discharge date," he says. "We don't have such a system, but the idea of mentoring people before they get out is so important. When these people leave prison, they are deeply cynical and they have a victim mentality."
During his year McKeever hopes to introduce two personal-development courses in male prisons and two in female prisons, from which 20 men and 10 women will graduate. The programme will cover employment, accommodation, managing money, emotional well-being and domestic pressures. He expects that the pilot will reduce the recidivism rate in both groups and that it can then be used as a model on a wider scale in Irish prisons. "From working with prisoners, I know they feel that the odds are stacked against them when they are discharged," he says. "They are prone to isolation, which is why many return to drug use or the gang culture. Doing the course with them is like sitting in front of a roomful of people and seeing lights come on: they see how things could be different."
Personal battles, including one with alcohol, also gave him an insight into the challenges faced by those on the margins. "What I am trying to do is give a voice to the voiceless until they find that voice," he says. And the ocean liner? "When the captain of an ocean liner decides to change course it might be 15 or 20 miles before there is any visible sign of that change," he explains. "Slow, incremental change may be frustrating to watch, but once these people have turned a corner it will take an equally long time for them to turn back to crime again.
"My major motivation is prevention. The aim is to turn around the pattern of behaviour which is costing people and society so dearly. When you look at the figures, you see the system we have clearly isn't working. This is an attempt to turn the figures around, so that, eventually, more people who go into prison will come out of it reformed and determined to turn over a new leaf. They will benefit and society will benefit."
See www.jobcare.ie