Trekkers Mark Wilson, Dominique Desamais, Joe O'Reilly, Brendan Guildea, Derek Byrne, John O'Reilly, Evelyn McDonagh, Shea Kelly (out of shot) and the Action Challenge leader Katherine Kerr with some of the Self Help staff in Sodo

On Friday 23^rd October, the band of trekkers from Skerries paid a visit to Sodo to see, first hand, what was being done with the money donated by the people of Skerries. The local Self Help office had arranged to collect them and bring them on a guided tour of some of the projects being undertaken in the area.

This was a great opportunity to learn about the work of Self Help and to see how the local people in Ethiopia are benefitting directly from the assistance of their counterparts in Skerries.

Final figures for the trek fundraising are just in and a fantastic €31,436 was raised - now paid in full into the Self Help Africa, Sodo account; Huge thanks to all involved and especially to all those of you who gave so generously.

Read the full story of the trek & see some of the pictures...

Frustrated with the helplessness of watching the cycle of poverty and injustice repeating endlessly in Africa and inspired by the philosophy behind the Connect Ethiopia & Self Help Africa organisations of empowering people to help themselves, a number of Skerries people came together in Dec 2006 to set up the Skerries/Sodo group.

The aim is to focus on one particular region in one particular country to help ensure that the people of Skerries can be instrumental in bringing about real and lasting change in a community with odds of poverty, climate & global politics stacked against them.

The area chosen is the Sodo region of Ethiopia where Self Help Africa are implementing a major project in partnership with the local community. The Sodo region is located in the Great Rift Valley, 103 km south of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. It is a rural area and prone to drought, where only 10% of households have sufficient food for the whole year.

Kevin O'Sullivan after his fundraising swim
from Lambay island

The project focuses on assisting families and communities to grow enough food to feed themselves and to earn a sustainable living as well as providing savings schemes, education facilities & health care.

The local community in Skerries has so far raised over €65,000 which goes directly into the project work.

There is always something going on in the town to raise money or awareness of the project, whether on the street, in the schools or in the clubs and associations. So watch out for the next event and support or get involved yourself.