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A long time supporter of many charitable causes, Leslie is a founder of Digicel, the largest mobile phone telecommunications company in the Carribean. It was his work which brought him to Haiti for the first time, the poorest country in the Western World. It is about one third the size of Ireland, has twice the population of Ireland and is situated about 90 minutes by air from Miami and just 60 miles from Cuba.
Conditions in Haiti are dire for the vast majority of its population of 8.5 million. Seven out of ten Haitians are living below the poverty line of $2 a day. One child dies every hour from starvation, with almost a quarter of children under five suffering from malnutrition. Unemployment stands at 54% and half of the population cannot read or write. And hundreds of thousands of people are condemned to live in mud shacks, many of which were totally destroyed by hurricanes last year.
But, there is hope in Haiti, despite all its problems. It is this hope that inspired Leslie Buckley to act and he founded Haven. To kickstart fundraising for this new international non-governmental organisation, Leslie has pledged EUR 1 million. This money will cover all administration costs, so every single penny donated to Haven from others will go directly to the building and community programmes in Haiti. The project has received the support and backing of many famous people including former US President, Bill Clinton, and a number of Meath GAA stars.
George Hook, the radio presenter and rugby pundit, has signed up for Build it Week, flying out on October 25th and returning on November 1st. Keith Murphy and Enda McPhillips work together for ESB and they heard the advert for the project on radio and decided to sign up.. Haven is hoping to have 250 volunteers in the group and to
date about 192 have joined. So there are still vacancies for more volunteers. Houses are being built there at the moment but it is a slow process and it is hoped that Build Week will speed up the provision of safe homes for more families.
Each volunteer has to raise €4,000 and Keith has already organised fund-raising events. His Charity Football match between Glaslough Villa and Glennan Old Boys took place last Saturday and was very successful and enjoyable. Sean Comiskey was named Man-of-the-Match. There will be a rematch between these two rivals next month – so watch out for notice of that as it will be another enjoyable game. Also in the pipeline is a big Table Quiz, to be held in the Scarna Inn soon. Last Sunday afternoon there was a Primary Schools Disco in Emyvale Leisure Centre and this received excellent support. However Keith has been joined by four others in
Keith Murphy heads for Haiti.
Emyvale man. Keith Murphy, and his work colleague, Enda McPhillips, has joined the Haven Group, which will travel to Haiti in October to build 40 new homes for the people there within one week.
Haven was established in late 2008 by Leslie Buckley, one of Ireland's leading entrepreneurs and businessmen. It’s vision is to tackle poverty and improve the quality of life of impoverished people in Haiti. It aims to do this primarily by building new homes for the poor, improving other homes and introducing development programmes to help the local people work their way out of poverty.
remaining unshaven and without a hair cut for nine weeks after which there will be a sponsored Beard and Head Shave. They have now completed six weeks and Keith is being driven mad. He cannot wait for the Shave Night and, if he could get a decent offer, he would shave it off right away. However bad he feels about it, he does not have to look in the mirror and his closest friends are finding it difficult to accept his new looks. He is being compared to many other beard growing personalities, which he cannot accept as compliments. We caught him having a sneak peep in a mirror and we heard the moan of disapproval from him.
All assistance for Keith and this project will be very welcome. You can help by supporting some of the events he has planned, sponsor his shave or just give him a donation. You can contact him on 0861064327 or you can donate on-line at www.havenpartnership.com , making sure you note it for Keith.