€10,000 is the target for Oldcastle's Kenya volunteers

Three Oldcastle housewives have set up The Kenya Project and hope to raise a minimum of €10,000 over the next year to support a small church, school and orphanage in Kenya. The trio have held a number of fundraising events already and the final event of 2011 is a St Stephen's Day Wren Ceili in the Naper Arms Hotel from 5pm until 10pm. There will be musicians, dancers, singers, a raffle, Irish dancing, ceol agus craic. Children are welcome, séisiun musicians are especially welcome and fancy dress is essential. Ten per cent of the funds raised from that event will go to the Oldcastle branch of the St Vincent de Paul Society as Christmas is a very taxing time of the year for this charity. The three women are Angie Power-Disney, Sheila Scully and Patricia Maguire, all from Loughcrew View Estate in Oldcastle. "We consider ourselves to be part of the post-Celtic Tiger society in Ireland, as lauded by the new President, and we may not be wealthy, but we have compassion and a social conscience," said Angela. They propose to twin Oldcastle and surrounds with the school in Moi'sbridge, Kenya, and encourage future gap year, transition year and Gaisce students to visit the school and help with work out there. The school was started by a teacher in Kenya who was saddened that poor children could not access second-level education unless they have money, as secondary education in Kenya is not free. He set up a small school and orphanage originally with 60 pupils but now reduced to 30 because of lack of funding. Angela has been supporting his work for a year and has been provided with full accounting details of how the money is being spent. The project has already raised €1,000 for Kenya which has helped rebuild walls damaged by floods and providing bunk beds for the school. Ninety per cent of the funds raised will go to Kenya while the further 10 per cent will go to a local soccer club, which is a huge influence in the town, and is trying to secure all-weather pitches from the latest round of Leader funding. Further fundraisers will include a non-uniform day on St Valentine's Day at St Oliver Post-Primary School and Gilson National School in Oldcastle. The two local schools have agreed to this fundraiser but they are also looking to broaden this to all schools in Meath and Cavan and make it a theme day, where the pupils contribute €2 each for the privilege of not wearing their uniforms. In January, the Oldcastle ladies soccer team will turn out to play against Meath Gardai. The team was first put together to play a charity match in aid of The Kenya Project in November. The team attracted so much attention and interest that it is now training weekly with a view to joining a women's league. Members of the committee will travel to see what work is being done in Kenya in the coming months and the project will continue for a year under Angie, Sheila and Patricia's guidance, at which point they hope transition year, gap year and Gaisce students will take over with annual visits.