A Tralee Grandmother has today spoken of the wonderful benefits of volunteering overseas, crediting Kenya with ‘blowing my mind and changing my outlook forever’
75-year-old Joan O’Regan, recounts her time spent volunteering in Kericho County in Kenya with Irish NGO, Brighter Communities Worldwide.
Joan has volunteered there several times, most recently in last November when she was Project Lead and will travel again this November 2025 and again will act as Project Lead. She urges others to think of volunteering for Brighter Communities Worldwide also.
The retired French Teacher, who taught at St. Michael’s College in Listowel, had a fortuitous chance meeting with the Co-Founder of the charity Maria Kidney, which this year celebrates 23 years of shining a light on inequality.
She says “I was visiting my son Jack who lives in Nairobi and on the bus journey from the Airport I got chatting to this very lively, bubbly Corkonian! She was full of life and energy and regaled me with stories about the many projects the charity started in Kericho County. I was really struck by the fact that the input of local people is rightly at the core of the charity’s work; People are key to the Brighter Communities Worldwide model – people making choices about their own development based on their values. Brighter Communities Worldwide works in partnership with the people, this has lasting, sustainable benefits”. “Communities must own projects if they are to about real change and this happens through a strong base of local volunteers and a team of local staff”.
“That bus journey flew; I was so interested in the various stories of their health, education and income generating programmes and let me tell you, once you meet Maria Kidney you don’t forget her! I met her again at an event in the Irish Kenyan Society and she persuaded me to volunteer”.
“I took the jump and went for it. I had always wanted to volunteer and Maria gave me the nudge I needed! A group of us, including some from Tralee Mountain Club went to Ndubusat. It is an area of huge natural beauty and we helped to develop the sustainable tourism project there. I went back again and helped to facilitate the Life Skills Courses. These courses are basic skills that people can use in their everyday lives and crucially, pass onto others”. For example I saw how building little smokeless stoves makes such a massive difference in people’s lives. It’s not a huge thing in our world, it is monumental in theirs, it’s life changing”.
“It was hard for people to do the Life skills courses, for instance they had to take time off work, not an easy task. They had to get to the venue, very difficult for them as they had lots of terrain to traverse and in the majority of cases had to walk miles. However, they showed great determination and thirst for learning .That was the constant thread in all my dealings with the people there , their hunger for learning and knowledge. It is remarkable and so refreshing. They are so immersed in the community, it means the world to them”.
“They have so little but yet they can smile, they can laugh, they are a joyful people. It’s beautiful to witness and it changed my outlook completely. I go with the flow now, I’m not as fearful. It’s a great freedom really and one that I am so grateful for”.
“My Sister came with me in 2019 so I suppose the volunteering bug is definitely spreading! I would really urge people to try and volunteer with Brighter Communities Worldwide if they can at all. I can’t wait to go back, it’s got under my skin now”.
November can’t come quickly enough
Joan says that she has been struck so much by the real and very tangible impact of the work of Brighter Communities Worldwide and says that the charity now has to work even harder to try and make up some of the massive hole that the withdrawal of the US aid leaves .
Joan says “I am delighted to be able to play my part for Brighter Communities Worldwide. For twenty three years they have been shining a light on inequality and it is an absolute privilege to help them make the strides they have for more than two decades and importantly, to look towards the next twenty as there is still so much to do”.
