Darfur - GOALie nurse Emily Begg at work
any time, but it becomes even more so when one considers the present economic plight and the terrible hardships being suffered by the Irish taxpayer, who after all is footing the bill,” says O’Shea. “This type of government-to-government aid must be stopped.” Today, more than 100 GOALies and thousands of local staff are helping GOAL to deliver on a range of humanitarian programmes in the developing world. “Despite the economic downturn, GOAL is operational in 12 countries and thanks to the tremendous support of the Irish public and others, we have been able to continue our other activities while helping people recover from dreadful tragedies, such as Haiti and Pakistan,” said Mr. O’Shea. “Their generosity allowed us, for instance, to distribute food to nearly half a million people in Haiti, while an $11.5 million dollar contract with the US government is seeing us build 2,000 transitional shelters and several hundred latrines and shower and hand-wash blocks for almost one million Haitians still without a home.” In response to the outbreak of cholera in Port-auPrince late last year, GOAL is striving to mitigate and control the disease in the 38 temporary settlements currently under the organisation’s care, by helping to ensure that the people have access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and by distributing hygiene kits. “Midway through 2010, GOAL responded to the flooding in Pakistan that left 20 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. We are continuing our relief efforts there by distributing non-food
items such as shelter and hygiene equipment, and providing emergency latrines and bathing shelters,” added John O’Shea. Apart from these major humanitarian emergencies, GOAL has remained heavily involved in long-term development programmes in 10 countries across the developing world. These include South Sudan, where GOAL is the sole provider of access to primary healthcare services to some 560,000 people. GOAL also recently completed the first phase of a major housing programme for orphans in Uganda. Since it was established three years ago, this programme has renovated or built more than 1,050 new homes for thousands of orphans and families who have been affected by HIV and AIDS in the east African country. Prior to taking ownership of their new brickbuilt homes, which cost just €4,500 to construct, the families had been living in makeshift shacks, grass houses or leaking mud huts. Without easily accessible clean water or latrines, poor health and disease were rife. “In some respects,” says John O’Shea, “it’s sad and disappointing that an agency such as GOAL is still required by the poorest of the poor in the developing world – but as long as needs are there and we have the support of the Irish community and others, we will continue to respond effectively to natural disasters and humanitarian tragedies wherever they occur.” GOAL can be contacted at PO Box 19, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland; on 00 353 (0)1 2809 779, or by visiting www.goal.ie
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