Meath hero Niamh O’Sullivan chasing tree-in-a-row in Kenya

One of Meath’s best known footballers has recently returned from a historic trip to Africa, where she kick started a bid to plant more than a million trees to combat climate change.

Meath player Niamh O’Sullivan joined 50 leading GAA stars to compete in the first ever ‘Plant the Planet Games’ in Nairobi, Kenya, on a visit that also saw them plant the first thousand trees in a GPA-backed tree planting effort to tackle climate change in Africa.

Each of the participating players, who included inter-county hurlers, footballers and camogie players from 23 different counties, were tasked with raising €10,000 in sponsorship to support the effort. The group’s collective total has already topped half a million euro, with funds still coming in.

The initiative was organised by Galway dual player Alan Kerins Warriors for Humanity in conjunction with development charity Self Help Africa, and is also being supported by Kenyan Olympic medalist and world record holding runner, David Rudisha.

In a social media post, Dunshaughlin's O'Sullivan says: “What an unbelievable week in Kenya. An experience I will never forget.... Whilst playing our National sport, the aim of the trip was to plant one million trees to help reduce carbon footprint, help communities grow out of poverty and provide for families long after we are gone”.

Business Development Director at Self Help Africa, Martha Hourican, said that the trip had exceeded all expectations, and that the support provided by the Gaelic players would have a transformational effect for communities in Kenya hard hit by the effects of climate change. ‘Regions of Kenya have endured four successive years of drought, upwards of two million livestock have been lost this year alone, and crops have failed.

“This trip responds to that crisis in a practical way, while also highlighting for people back home here in Ireland very real effects of climate change being felt by poor and vulnerable communities in Africa,” she said.

Amongst the participants in the inaugural ‘Plant the Planet Games’ were Limerick Hurler Sean Finn, Wexford’s Matthew O’Hanlon, Kerry’s Stefan Okunbor, Clare’s Podge Collins, Kilkenny’s Grace Walsh, and Niamh O’Sullivan. The players took to the field for a series of exhibition games at Nairobi Rugby Club, before visiting projects being implemented by Self Help Africa in Kenya, and planting trees at Baringo in the country’s drought affected Rift Valley.