Meath GAA star sees a different side to life

Meath football star Brian Farrell has told how a recent volunteering trip to Nepal has left him with a new-found appreciation of the smaller things in life. Brian, along with his brother, Alan, and fellow Nobber GFC player Andrew O'Brien have recently returned from Nepal after carrying out volunteering work there in January with the EIL Intercultural Learning organisation on its Volunteer Abroad programme, which included work in a school, orphanage and plant nursery. The Nobber and Meath star said: "This volunteering trip has left me with a new found appreciation of the smaller things in life - things we in Ireland have in abundance and things the people in Third World countries haven't got and may never have." Having had a keen interest in the politics and the poverty levels in various Third World countries, he decided he would like to go out to one of these countries to carry out some voluntary work and to actually witness the poverty first-hand. "Early last summer, I got confirmation that I needed surgery on my back and this would take place at the end of the year, meaning I would not be able to play football in the early months of 2012. My brother, Alan, and a good friend of ours, Andrew O'Brien, got the ball rolling in conjunction with EIL Ireland to set up a custo- made volunteering trip to Nepal in early 2012," he recalled. A fundraising race night was organised in November in Nobber and the trio were greatly assisted financially by local businesses and the people of Nobber and the surrounding areas. On Sunday 8th January, they arrived in Kathmandu to get their first glimpses of what a Third World country is really like. "You see pictures on the TV and the internet of these countries, but nothing can really prepare you for how poor they actually are. The city is so densely populated with people standing or lying in every possible square metre of ground. To read the full article see this week's Meath Chronicle.