Youth Release Iron Man

The Youth Release Ironman Team are all carbed up and ready to go! The lads are set to do the
Ironman Asia Pacific tomorrow. They have put months of hard work and sweat that will all be worth it this weekend. As well as that they have raised over $7000 for Youth Release. All money raised so far will directly benefit 23 adolescents.This money will literally be changing lives giving the adolescents an opportunity to be trained in a vocation where they can become self efficient and for some it will get them off the streets. 

Meet the Team

This is the youth release ironman team that has taken up the challenge of completing the ironman in Port Macquaire Australia in May in aid of this great charity. The decision to do the the ironman was the brain child of... Lets be honest there was no brains used when the decision was made to enter this event. The five man team is made up of the following:
                                                            

Aidan French

Aidan, originally from Newbawn, Co. Wexford has been working as a Production Engineer for Cochlear in Sydney. Aidan already has a half ironman under his belt as well as a few enticers, sprints and Olympic distances.


                                                          

Joseph Nolan

Joe, originally from sunny Ballon, Co. Carlow has been working as a Mechanical Engineer for Cochlear in Sydney since 2010. Joe did his first triathlon in Loughrea, Co. Galway along with Rob. He completed it but was forced to doggy paddle the swim! Since that his goal has been to improve his swimming and now he faces the challenge of a 3860m swim in Port Macquarie.


                                                              

Eamonn Joyce

Eamonn, originally from Rahoon, Co. Galway has been working as a Medical Device Engineer in Sydney since 2008. Eamonns first triathon was a super sprinter in 2010 on the recommendation of Aidan. After a nervy swim not helped by the floating start her completed it. A couple of successful half ironmans later he's now ready for the full


                                                                  

Brendan Gaffney

Brendan, originally from Isaacstown, Co. Meath has been working as a Medical Device Engineer in Sydney since 2009. Bredan, like some of the other guys began triathon with the BRW Super Sprinter in Sydney. It left him with a taste for more and he has since completed a couple of sprinters, an olympic and a half ironman


                                                                   

Rob O'Reilly

Rob, originally from Cavan and Dublin(!) has been working as a Engineer with Coclear in Sydney. Rob ran the Loughrea triathlon with Joe back in Ireland. He has also completed another sprinter in Athlone and the Galway half ironman before moving to Sydney.
We will be updating throughout the day to let everyone know how the race goes. From the boys:


The training is done, its now time for the IRONMAN! 
 
Some of the team have already left for Port Macquarie and the rest are preparing to go for the event at the weekend. There has been an amazing push in the final few weeks with the lads pushing hard to reach thier fundraising targets. Your support and their efforts have been amazing, keep an eye on the site and the facebook page over the weekend for updates how the lads are progressings been accepted into the Youth Release vocational training program. He will begin his training as a carpenter this month and be able to support himself.

The Final Week!
The hard work is now over. We are now in the final count down with less than 7 days to go. Over the last nine weeks since the team last raced the training distances have increased. We have swam the distance from Dun Laoghaire to Holly Head three times, cycled the distance from Dublin to Dubai via Baghdad and ran the distance from Malin Head to Kinsale Head via Dublin and then back. All these reserves will be called on next Sunday as we hope to do every proud who has donated to the cause. On that a massive thank you to everyone who has donated. We have now officially reached and surpassed our target of 4000 euro. The donations are still coming in so a big thank you again. On race day there will be updates on our progress on this page and we will try to update with some photos in the lead up to the race. We also post the link up to the live feed. Again thanks a million to everyone who has donated.
Thanks to the generous donations 12 kids have been given the chance to be trained and work so they can support themselves and their families, including kids like Tesfahun. Tesfahun is 17 and lives in Dire Dawa. He is an orphan that had lived on the street previously after he left school aged 7 to find work. Tesfahun has been accepted into the Youth Release vocational training program. He will begin his training as a carpenter this month and be able to support himself.

Please take time to support them no amount is too little. Hugely inspiring! Good luck lads!

Follow them tomorrow here:http://events.youthrelease.com/ironman/ironman-challengersblog.html

News Release

 

Our first article in The Munster Express from Niamh and Laura's home town in Waterford Ireland. We would like to say thank you so much to everyone at home for their support <3

World Water Day

 

Happy World Water Day!

 

 
Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness.
Women spend 200 million hours a day collecting water.
More people have a mobile phone than a toilet

I think it's about time we changed this, don't you? Join www.water.org and learn the facts! Spread the world!

Youth Release Ironman team

The Youth Release Ironman Challenge

On May 5th this year 5 men will take part in the Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. The lads, all originally from Ireland, have kindly decided to take this immense challenge in aid of Youth Release to raise vital funds for our Child Sponsorship program. Have a read through the rest of the site to meet the team , read what’s involved in the challenge on the team blog and learn how you can support the team in Australia and our work in Ethiopia.

Meet the Team

This is the youth release ironman team that has taken up the challenge of completing the ironman in Port Macquaire Australia in May in aid of this great charity. The decision to do the the ironman was the brain child of... Lets be honest there was no brains used when the decision was made to enter this event. The five man team is made up of the following:
                                                            

Aidan French

Aidan, originally from Newbawn, Co. Wexford has been working as a Production Engineer for Cochlear in Sydney. Aidan already has a half ironman under his belt as well as a few enticers, sprints and Olympic distances.


                                                          

Joseph Nolan

Joe, originally from sunny Ballon, Co. Carlow has been working as a Mechanical Engineer for Cochlear in Sydney since 2010. Joe did his first triathlon in Loughrea, Co. Galway along with Rob. He completed it but was forced to doggy paddle the swim! Since that his goal has been to improve his swimming and now he faces the challenge of a 3860m swim in Port Macquarie.


                                                              

Eamonn Joyce

Eamonn, originally from Rahoon, Co. Galway has been working as a Medical Device Engineer in Sydney since 2008. Eamonns first triathon was a super sprinter in 2010 on the recommendation of Aidan. After a nervy swim not helped by the floating start her completed it. A couple of successful half ironmans later he's now ready for the full


                                                                  

Brendan Gaffney

Brendan, originally from Isaacstown, Co. Meath has been working as a Medical Device Engineer in Sydney since 2009. Bredan, like some of the other guys began triathon with the BRW Super Sprinter in Sydney. It left him with a taste for more and he has since completed a couple of sprinters, an olympic and a half ironman


                                                                   

Rob O'Reilly

Rob, originally from Cavan and Dublin(!) has been working as a Engineer with Coclear in Sydney. Rob ran the Loughrea triathlon with Joe back in Ireland. He has also completed another sprinter in Athlone and the Galway half ironman before moving to Sydney.

Goal

The boys hope to raise 4,000e, enough to  sponsor at least 10 children through the Vocational Training Sponsorship program in Dire Dawa. You can support them here: http://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/9385_yr-ironman-s-fundraising-page.html

Happy Valentines Day

 

 

Happy Valentines Day!
Roses are red,
violets are blue,
we wrote this newsletter
just for you!
 

Thank you so much for being awesome.

Enjoy ♥

 

Share the Love Newsletter 

Guest blog from a first timer to Ethiopia

We asked Dave our new committee member to write up his experience of Dire Dawa as it was his first time volunteering with Youth Release, here's what he had to say:

"I travel quite a bit but I’ve never felt so connected to a country I’ve never been to before as I do with Ethiopia. I’ve been volunteering with Youth Release for a couple of years; mostly maintaining the website. In Aug/ Sept last year both Niamh and Laura decided to go to Dire Dawa and invited me to come along. I was very excited by the prospect, for years been watching the project process through the photos relayed to me from the volunteers and our Ethiopian partners and finally I would have the chance to see it for myself.

Flying into Dire Dawa brought back memories from a previous trip to Tanzania a few years ago. The scenery and the feel of the place were familiar. By the end of the trip I had learned how different the two countries are! What immediately struck me is the rapport that the Youth Release team have with the local community; from the bishops and community leaders right down to the street children. How am I supposed to remember all these names!? 

 On previous volunteering trips with other organisations the volunteers had been isolated from the community, ‘released’ to perform their specific function and then returned to the apparent safety of the compound. While I understand this maybe a necessity in some parts of the world, war zones for example, it should only be used as a last resort any where else I feel. The benefit gained from engaging with the local community, being seen out and about and making connections may not be realised immediately but over time it’s a powerful tool. It was obvious Youth Release is achieving this right from the start of this visit.

Although the trip was short, just 10 days, we had a number of very important functions to carry out. The morning after our arrival the first of our many meetings began. Finances, new implementations, future project phases, and strategy both at home and in Ethiopia were discussed with our local partners and the local staff. 

The afternoons were generally left to visit different parts of the project. For the Youth Release team seeing the Youth Centre open, fully functional and catering for 200 kids was a moment the team had dreamed of for 5 years. The kids now have the education facilities including the library and classrooms, the resources including teachers, councillors and materials and space where they can play and just be kids which is something taken for granted at home but is a luxury in Dire Dawa.

Youth Release has a recent initiative where by a person can sponsor an adolescent through a vocational training program. These kids now can be trained in a skill where, after 18 months, will be qualified and can provide financially for their family. We got to visit a number of the vocational training workshops .The guys are showing remarkable talent in carpentry and joinery, while the girls are becoming proficient hair stylists. 

Another important afternoon was spent visiting some of the Youth Centres kids’ families. In many cases the child has lost at least one parent if not both. Life is a struggle for the families and the community, they are experiencing the worst drought since the 1980’s and that was a far more publicised event thanks to the efforts of Bob Geldoff. But they are resilient and hopefully. I’ll always what an elderly man said in passing us ‘it’s great to see white people here again’. He didn’t say it as if he was looking for a saviour more so that the international community had taken notice of the difficulties they face.

The final task was to paint the Youth Centre. It probably had not seen a coat of paint since its previous incarnation as a leprosy clinic decades ago. Deciding the choice of colours may not have been our most important meeting but it provoked much discussion during the week. Once the compromise was reached we bought the paint ready for the following morning. We had reckoned it would take 2 or 3 days to paint the building itself with the numbers we had but when we arrived the following morning the task had already begun! Some of the teachers, social workers, and older kids from the community had beaten us too it! It was a great day, with everyone helping out and we got though the work much quicker than we thought.

 With all the meetings wrapped up and the Youth Centre painted we were guests of honour at a coffee ceremony held on the Youth Centres grounds. It seemed like most of the community squeezed in to watch the colourful local dancing and stage performances and to enjoy the locally brewed coffee.

While the ground work is done and we can now see how the youth centre and the vocational training is benefiting the local community, the task is still enormous. The number of orphaned street children is vast but I return to Ireland reenergised and more determined by the work Youth Release has done and the opportunities in the future to make a difference there"

 Dave is taking on the  GaelForce Connemara Adventure Challenge on May 11th to raise much needed funds for Youth Release 

If you would like to support Dave as he takes on the challenge you can support him here: https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/9379_david-leonard-s-fundraising-page.html 

I

It's hard to believe we're back...

It's hard to believe that this time last week we were still in Ethiopia, and that our two weeks have come and gone. This trip to Ethiopia was the one we have been waiting for since we started Youth Release back in 2008 and it honestly was worth every minute of the wait. For the first time, the Youth Release team got to see the project in real life, up to now we have been envisioning what it would look like, making changes, meeting with the necessary people to make sure it was going to happen, (for those who know us and have been with us the whole way let’s be honest we were balls of stress :) )

To be able to meet the community and see that they are so involved in the project is much more than we could have asked for. Not only are there 15 local staff working in the community, but there are also local volunteers, part time teachers and even a parents committee! On paper there are 200 direct beneficiaries this means that 200 children get educational support (schools supplies) psycho social support(counseling services) and tutorial classes, but after spending two weeks at the center every day, it is clear that there over 200 children using the youth center. This is what we always wanted, a youth center where children can come and play, use the library, join the clubs, no matter what their back ground is and the youth center is just that. Along with the 200 direct beneficiaries, we have 17 young adults on the vocational training program. Eight young women have already graduated, and nine boys will graduate in the coming months. As they graduate more adolescents will be added to the program. We will be bringing you some stories about these young adults soon and also stories about their employers.

We hope through the blogs you got to understand a little bit more about the project and what we are doing! Thank you so much again for all your support and encouragement! If you are interested in supporting Youth Release you can make a donation online www.youthrelease.com or send a cheque to

Youth Release

Dooneen,

Kilmeaden

Co Waterford

Ireland

If you would like to contact us please send an email to youthrelease@gmail.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.Thank you so much and thank you to our wonderful team on the ground and all the Youth Release team in Ireland! You guys are AWESOME! 

Welcoming Ceremony

20th January 2013

Today was the day we have been waiting for, for five years. Today we had a ceremony for the community to welcome them and thank them for being part of the youth center. The ceremony was scheduled for 9am, but in true Ethiopia fashion it started much later. We were delighted as it gave us a chance to go around and introduce ourselves to some of the parents we hadn't met before. By the time we were ready to start, there was probably 200 children, the 20 adolescents from the vocational training program and maybe 100-150 families. It was absolutely amazing and honestly I don't think I can put into words how it felt to see the community gather and see that finally the youth center that we worked so hard to open was open!

Did you know Ethiopia is the birth place of coffee? In Ethiopia an invitation to a coffee ceremony is a mark of respect and friendship. The community and staff invited the Youth Release team to attend a coffee ceremony at the center. The ceremony started with our Director Niamh Power making a speech thanking everyone both in Ethiopia and at home (yes that's you) for the continued support and for helping make this happen. Finally she thanked the community for accepting us and the project and for their involvement and enthusiasm! Following Niamh's speech, the children put on a number of different dramas and dances based on Ethiopian culture and history. It was absolutely amazing to see every club at the youth center represented. As there are two main cultures in the Gende Tesfa area; Oromo and Amharic we were introduced to both through dance. language and culture. I know we are biased but the kids were extremely talented and everything was absolutely fantastic! 

From a completely personal view, every time I looked up and saw all the people there and seeing the community involvement, I had tears running down my face. I really don't think we could have asked for it to be any better. Watching the parents faces as they saw their children doing the dances, dramas, and songs, it finally hit home why we are doing this! This project is not only for the children, but for the families so that the children of this community have opportunities and a place to go and get support. 

Half way through the dancing and drama, we were given our coffee. A traditional coffee ceremony is a long process. The lady making the coffee wears traditional clothes, first the coffee beans are washed and roasted on a pan, a small open fire is lit and incense is burned! The smoke from the incense mixed with the smell of coffee is going through the air and smells absolutely amazing! Once the coffee is roasted it is put in a traditional pot made out of clay called 'Jebena' with water and boiled in the small open fire/coal furnace. Again the boiling coffee aroma fills the room, once boiled the coffee is served in small cups called 'cini' (si-ni) which are very small Chinese cups. The boys had never had the traditional   buna before but thankfully they loved it. Coffee, bread and popcorn was served to most of the adults as children are not allowed have it.. understandably!

After the ceremony we gathered everyone together for a group shot, it took us about 20 minutes to get everyone in one place but eventually we got our group shot! See if you can find us :)

We must have taken over a hundred pictures of the children, the staff, the parents, everybody wanted pictures with us! It was absolutely amazing day, it was well worth the wait. From the bottom of our hearts thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made it happen and for all your support along the way. We would have given anything to have you all here with us today, and share this experience...maybe one day. THANK YOU, and thank you to our wonderful staff here in Ethiopia you guys are incredible and we are so lucky to have such a great team!

Painting the youth center

18th-19th January

So after a five day debate of ; what color would we paint the youth center? What should we paint on it? Does purple go with blue? Decisions, decisions. Eventually we decided on yellow, purple and blue.

The youth center before

Some of our local friends came along to help us as we thought it would just be us and them, to our surprise half the community showed up to paint the youth center. Every one grabbed a paint brush and got to work. First people were painting the wrong wall the wrong colour, so there was a little bit of direction needed but all in all it went great. 

By lunch time we had 3 of the four sides done, and the staff even decided to paint the trees purple. After that, every thing in sight was painted the gate, the trees, the side wall, the windows every one just went for it to get the job done! Every body got a chance to paint from some of the children to the elderly women, they were the ones taking the paint brushes from us!! It was incredible to see the community take ownership and how proud they were to be the ones painting it. The first day we had the first coat done on the four sides of the youth center,  and half of each and every tree was painted purple.

We arrived at  the youth center at 10am on Saturday morning to continue painting. When we arrived the we found the community had been there for a couple of hours painting without us. It was fantastic to see such a great group effort and that everyone played a part. We painted the windows blue and drew some games for the kids to play with.

After a couple of hours and a lot of hard work, the youth center was finally finished! 

The new and improved youth center :)

Meeting the community

17th January

The last couple of days have flown by, we started with interviewing the staff on Thursday. We interviewed four members of the staff discussing their backgrounds, their roles and how they see the youth center and its benefits for the children and the community. We were delighted to hear that the community is very involved in all activities and they are very happy to see some thing for the children in the community. They told us a little bit of the history and culture of Gende Tesfa (the area where we are working). 

As you already know we took over an old leprosy clinic, what you might not know (because I didn't) is that there is still a large number of people living in the community who are living with leprosy. Although it is a curable illness, there is still a huge stigma attached to those who have it. We also learnt that Gende Tesfa is one of the poorest and largest communities in Dire Dawa, most of the families live on less than €20 a month to provide for a family of up to 5. It is very hard for them to get work especially those who have leprosy.The staff invited us to visit the homes of some of the children who are benefiting from the youth center.  When you drive into Gende Tesfa, there are a lot of bigger than average houses, but once you go behind these and see the reality of how people live, it is a whole other story. Many of the families live in dire poverty in small houses with one room for a large family, others live in squalor.

We met the children's parents or in many cases their guardians as they are orphans and are living with other family members. Each family welcomed us into their home with open arms and all asked us to take photos as they do not have any pictures of their children. For most of the children it was the first time they saw pictures of themselves, and most giggled and laughed and asked for more photos. The children were excited to have a ferenje in their home and called all their friends to see...as always there was great excitement. For us it was great to get out into the community and meet the parents. It is one thing to hear they are happy with the project from the staff but to sit and talk to them and hear their enthusiasm was something else....

The rest of the day was spent buying paint for the youth center (the hardest decision ever made) and playing with the children at the youth center. All in all it was a fantastic day, to get out into the community and meet them was fantastic. Once again I am overwhelmed by the people in Ethiopia, their kindness, their hearts and their resilience. Today just proved it once again, the Ethiopian people are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet! 

Vocational Training

16^TH January 2013

For many months you've heard about our vocational training sponsorship program, you've listened to our pleas for support and I’m pretty sure you've read it in every news letter; today we went to see some of the adolescents at work. In the morning we visited 9 boys, each boy is aged between 14 and 18 and they are all training to become carpenters.  Not only are these boys working long hours at the carpentry shop but almost all of them are also attending night school so that they can finish grade 12.

The adolescents must meet a certain criteria to be accepted onto the vocational training program. Many have lived on the street, or are living in dire poverty.  Once they are accepted onto the program they begin their training. The youth center is connected with a number of different businesses in Dire Dawa and the owners have agreed to train the boys and girls in a particular skill. Lucky for us we got to meet most of the owners where the boys are training and they were very proud to show us the work that the boys have done.  We met Sammy; he is the first business man to take on any trainees. At the moment he has 5 boys training at his shop, he also provides them with accommodation and a small salary. He said he is honoured to be part of the program and is hoping to help many more boys get their training. (Watch this space for a blog all about Sammy and the boys)

In the afternoon, we met some of the girls who have finished their hair dressing training. They told us about their training and how it has made a difference in their lives. Most of the girls finished school at grade 10 (the final grade is 12) so they were unable to attend college, or the official training.  Liyuwork was one if the first girls to graduate, she has a two year old son and is the only person in her family earning a salary. She has worked in a number of hair dressing salons doing Shuruba (braids), she could never afford to go to hair dressing school. Through the program, she has received her training and has a good job and is now able to provide for her son and her family.

Today, we got a great insight into how the vocational training program works. It was amazing to meet the adolescents that are on the program and also see where they work.  Our goal is to get all the children sponsored this year, for more information visit http://www.youthrelease.com/childsponsor.php

Tomorrow we are going out into the Gende Tesfa community and visiting the homes of many of the children, then the biggest decision of the week needs to be made...what colour will we paint the youth center..Suggestions welcome J

Volunteering at the youth center

January 15^th 2013

Today the unbelievable happened; we finally got to volunteer at the Youth Release youth centre. We arrived and again most of the children (we didn’t meet them all yesterday) stood in shock wondering what to do. There were about 100- 150 children playing when we got there. We introduced ourselves and let them come to us, the boys were an instant hit with around 20 children trying to talk to them.  We have learned over the years that the best way to break any barriers is PHOTOS. The majority of the children have never seen a picture of themselves. After that we were all best friends...

We brought a few games and supplies to the youth center for the staff and children to have. There was Darts, Twister, Bowls, and a few more. Trying to teach 100 children how to play these games is no easy task but eventually (after making up many of their own rules) they got it!

After a lot of excitement, and a few fights over how to play and who won what, Niamh and Laura taught an English class. We had asked the project coordinator Abdi if we could assist the teachers with a class to see how it works, and to get to know the teach but somewhere along the way, we had a  mis communication of language. We had to teach 50 something children on our own with nothing prepared (while the boys got the easy task of playing football I might add). Trying to teach 50 something children in sweltering heat who don't really understand you is not an easy task, especially when you forget the words of easy songs like Old McDonald had a farm :) They did love the eieio part and the animal noises so at least they learnt something.

The children had a great command of the English language, they knew the basic greetings, the numbers up to 100 and the name of all the furniture in the class. It was incredible! After the class we played some more games and taught them the rules, I think after today they have finally warmed to us and are no longer afraid of the ferenje...now to meetings to see what needs to be done to make Youth Release bigger and better and see what our future plans are. For now I think we are all happy to just see the youth center up and running, but who knows what the future holds :)