Diswellstown pupils support Bóthar

First Communion day is becoming synonymous with collecting money as most young boys and girls well know. While most children use their newly gained riches to purchase a Wii or a Playstation and other must have gifts, the pupils of St. Patrick’s national school in Diswellstown took a different approach to their improved financial status.

According to teacher Emer Soulsby, “more than 60 children, who are now in 4th Class, donated various amounts of money to Bóthar following their First Communion, which they made almost two years ago.” The money was used to purchase livestock for poor families in third world countries.

“Last year a film crew came to the school and filmed the children for the new DVD being made about the work of Bóthar,” said Emer.

The completed DVD entitled “Bóthar: the gift of hope” was launched at a reception in the Mansion House recently and six representatives of the class, three boys and three girls, as well as some staff members attended the function, which was conducted by Angela Dunne, President of the INTO.

The DVD which was produced specifically for use in primary schools explores the issues that affect children in many developing societies and illustrates how Bóthar’s system of rural development can transform certain apparently insurmountable problems by the use of improved-breed livestock.

Speaking at the launch, Ms Dunne praised the input of Irish primary schools to Bóthar’s annual ‘Bóthar na nGabhar’ educational programme, which is being expanded over the next year to mark its 10th anniversary. “Teachers, pupils and parents throughout the length and breadth of the country have supported this programme consistently over the past decade. We should all be very proud of the generosity and concern shown by our young people who have assisted Bóthar in airlifting more than 6,000 Irish dairy goats to East Africa in that time,” she said.

Thanking all the children who had supported the project to date, Peter Ireton, CEO of Bóthar, likened the giving of a food and income-producing animal to a participating family in one of Bóthar’s 40 project countries to them “receiving the keys to a business on the high street, such is the dramatic nature of the transformation in the family’s circumstances that ensues.”

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