Walking the walk for Kenya

The head of Galway Chamber is undertaking a marathon effort for charity – to walk 2,000km over the next six months to help raise funds for people impacted by severe drought and hunger in Kenya.

To accomplish this over the coming months, Galway Chamber CEO, Kenny Deery, will be taking part in a range of half marathons – as well as travelling the Camino in Spain for a period in May.

The money he raises will go to support Self Help Africa’s work with the Baringo Project in Kenya which supports 60,000 farming families and their children to grow food in hot and dry conditions.

“I have some friends who are involved with Self Help Africa and when they started to describe the situation in Baringo I was deeply moved,” said Kenny.

“They have been through so much in recent years including drought, flooding, locust infestations, instability and were also significantly impacted by the pandemic.

“Women and children have been particularly affected and that has had severe implications on the levels of malnutrition and hunger experienced by these people,” he added.

Baringo is an area that is very prone to drought. Food insecurity, especially among women and children, remain the biggest challenges across this arid and semi-arid land, often resulting in malnutrition and hunger.

This is further exacerbated by climate change and extreme weather conditions which generate severe droughts. The land is continuously degraded with low food production.

This year Self Help Africa will be targeting water sources to rehabilitate local communities and has begun setting up irrigation kits in places like schools to ensure efficient use of this precious resource.

Quality seeds and planting materials will also be provided along with the delivery of nutritious school meals, the construction of school kitchens and the supply of soap and other sanitary supplies.

“I wanted to see what small part I could do to help and so that is why I decided to try to raise some funds for this very worthy project. So I’ve committed to undertaking 2,000km over the next six months,” said Kenny.

“Hopefully this activity will raise some much needed funds for the people of Baringo and it will assist more families, schools and communities to get access to the food and support they will need to better insulate themselves against future droughts or other extreme weather conditions,” he concluded.

Ronan Scully of Self Help Africa welcomed Kenny’s commitment.

“The funds Kenny is hoping to raise will go to help some 60,000 nomadic and semi-nomadic farming families and their children to grow food in the face of hotter and drier conditions,” he said.

“The assistance provided is designed to reduce the impact of severe droughts on child nutritional status and farmer livelihoods. It also aims to embed skills, knowledge, experience and opportunities within women, men, youth, and local communities.

“It will make a difference and we are so grateful to Kenny for undertaking this fundraising on behalf of a very important cause,” he concluded.

Anyone wishing to support Kenny’s fundraising activities can do so by going to https://www.idonate.ie/KennyDeerySelfHelpAfrica