Melanie on top of the world after international award

Date Published: 14-Oct-2010

By Bernie Ní Fhlatharta

A Galway student was so touched by the poverty of Nepal that on her return home she decided to do something about it – she set about raising money to open an orphanage.

The fourth year medical student has spent four summers in the mountains of Nepal and the orphanage and school is noe supported by its own NUIG society, DraÍocht.

The work and dedication led to NUI Galway nominating Melanie Hennessy (21) for the Junior Chamber International awards for ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World.

And Melanie, who is from Ennis, is off to Osaka, Japan at the end of the month for a weeklong trip during which she and nine others from around the world will receive their awards.

Melanie decided from a young age to do medicine and she always knew she would be going abroad to undeveloped areas during her summers.

It was by chance, after she completed her Leaving Cert that she travelled to Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world with a population of almost 25 million people.

There she witnessed the poverty and the devastation of a ten year war which saw the King toppled, leaving political and economic unrest.

“When I saw how families were left after the war and how children were left homeless, I knew I would have to do something. I also knew when I saw how corrupt the country was that these problems wouldn’t be addressed.

“Yes, I suppose I am a sensitive soul, but wouldn’t anybody be affected by something like this?” she asks.

But, it takes a special sort of person to actually respond in a practical way to a situation that they come across, such as the one witnessed by Melanie when she was just 17.

Melanie, who has been to Nepal for the past four summers, now speaks fluent Nepali.

The orphanage is based in the mountains, about five hours from the capital, Kathmandu, in a very rural part of the country, which is nestled between China and India.

Melanie’s work in Nepal will feature on Nationwide on RTE television on Monday next.

For more on this story see the Galway City Tribune.