Connacht Tribune
Offering help and hope to Haiti
Lifestyle – Retired teacher Michael Nolan fulfilled a dream in 2015 by volunteering at an orphanage in Haiti. The Ballygar man has now published a book of poems and stories to raise funds for this home and its special-needs facility. He tells STEPHEN GLENNON about Haiti’s troubled past, its current challenges and how this orphanage is a haven for abandoned children in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Essays that lay at the bottom of a dresser drawer for several years have finally been given a home by Ballygar author, Michael Nolan. He has published a collection of stories and poems to raise funds for an orphanage in Haiti where he volunteered in the summer of 2015.
In the book, Memories of Haiti And Other Stories, Michael recounts his time at Our Little Brothers and Sisters Orphanage in Kenscoff and some of his recollections are heart-breaking.
One story tells of a boy who died in hospital and the poignant scene when Westport woman Gena Heraty, who runs the orphanage’s special-needs programme, brought his body back there, to be laid to rest.
“I will never forget that,” says Michael. “We went out to meet them on the way in. Gena got out of the truck and you’d think she was about to collapse. He was about 13 or 14 when he died and all his mates, boys and girls, limped over to hug Gena. It was heart-breaking; it was so moving.”
The boy had suffered from various illnesses since birth and had been abandoned at the age of two. He was one of many being cared for at the orphanage and at Kay Cristine, which was the home for the children with special needs.
“That was really inspirational, that house,” says Michael. “Gena Heraty is an amazing woman who has been there about 25 years. She is part of the management now and is hands-on. She would be over the special needs and Kay Cristine is a special house for them, for those people with various ailments, physical and intellectual.
“They are from the ages of five up to 30 and I used to go there in the evenings for prayers. Gena is an inspirational woman. She would go around tucking the children into bed, hugging them, and making sure they were okay,” recalls Michael, who says that, due to Covid, fundraising for the facility has been difficult. “So, every €5 means a lot to them.”
For children who began their lives in abandonment, this care and love must be a shining beacon in a land that harbours a dark history. The size of Munster, Haiti has a population in excess of 10.5 million people.
Michael notes that the French, who colonised Haiti in the 17th Century, ran “one of the most brutally efficient slave colonies” until the population rebelled in what was the world’s first successful slave revolution, between 1791 and 1804. Haiti gained independence, although it had to pay a war debt to France that crippled the country’s economy.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
