November,
clocks turned back, leaves gone from the trees, long nights.
This is the month when we remember especially our dear departed
relatives and friends. With the first hint of winter cold,
we begin lighting the sitting room fires- we should have
our chimneys cleaned and checked, as a lot of house fires
are caused by a build up of soot and tar in chimneys. Also
check if your smoke alarm is working to ensure fire safety.
Check in on your elderly neighbours to make sure they are
safe and warm during this cold time of year. We are delighted
to greet the news that our Donadea-Timahoe group water scheme
begins soon. Well done to all who worked so hard to canvas
and collect the household subscriptions. We welcome the
newly elected members to our local area committees and we
thank all the outgoing members for all their work in the
community over the past year. Congratulations to Morna Hosey
& James McAndrew on being presented with their training
certs under the OAK Jobs Initiative Scheme Again we appeal
for more members. I’m looking forward to seeing you at our
AGM on Monday 6th November, 8.00pm in Kelly’s pub Timahoe.
It should be a meeting with a difference! Come along to
find out! P.S. please support our advertisers.
Thank You,
Liam Holton, Chairperson
In
speaking of a persons faults, pray don’t forget your own,
Remember those with homes of glass should never throw a
stone. If you have nothing else to do but talk of those
who sin, It is better we should think of home and from that
point begin. We have no right to judge a man until he’s
fairly tried. Should we not like his company we know the
world is wide. So many have faults- oh who has not -the
old as well as young. Perhaps we may for aught we know have
Fifty to their one. I’ll tell you of a little plan, I find
it works Quite well- I try my own defects to cure before
of others tell and though I sometimes hope to be no more
than some I know My own short comings bid me let the faults
of others go. So let us all when we commence to slander
friend or foe think of the harm that we may do to these
we little know. Remember curses sometimes like our chickens
come to roost at home Don’t speak of others faults until
you have none of your own.
Author Unknown.
A
VISIT TO CHERNOBYL
Having hosted children form Belarus in our
home for the past four years I recently availed of an opportunity
to travel to their homeland and see for myself the difficulties
or otherwise of life in this country.
I stayed in the town of Mozier, a medium sized town with
a population of approximately 120,000. It is 40 miles from
the site of the nuclear explosion. The town is built on
the Prepit river, which is full of radiation. Mozier is
a “flat land”. These flats were built in a great hurry after
the reactor exploded. The materials used were substandard
and therefore you can clearly see where all the bricks are
falling off the buildings. Buildings which were started
10 and 15 years ago are still not finished. There is no
economy as such and those who are working sometimes cannot
even buy enough food for their families. Most shops have
long since closed. The average monthly wage is between 30
and 40 dollars.
Those who had a house or apartment before the explosion
are “lucky” in the respect that they have somewhere to live.
The unlucky ones are those who were young children at that
time. Now they have families of their own but often have
nowhere to live. Lots of such families live in hostels where
eight families live on one floor and share a tiny kitchen
with just a three ring stove - no oven, toasters etc.
I visited hospitals and the No.14 school which is supported
by Chernobyl Children’s Appeal (Irl) in Skerries, (a registered
charity). The children’s hospital is an old, freezing, building
with no heating, which if situated in any other country
would be deemed uninhabitable. The children sleep on bare
spring beds with no mattresses, sheets, or blankets. It
was hard to see children so under nourished and sick lying
on such beds in the freezing cold. You’d think they would
be better off at home but then you have to ask yourself
“what home?” - some of these children were just left in
the hospital by their parents because they could not “afford”
them. (The abortion rate is very high and the birth rate
very low).
I had been told by one of the translators who stayed in
our home that when you go to hospital you bring everything
with you - bed linen, food and medicine if you have it.
I could clearly see how true this was. The hospital lab
consisted of a small square room with one shelf running
around three walls. The shelves were full of empty jars
- no fridge, microwave, kettle. There was nothing in the
room to say how samples had been taken or analyzed.
In one of the wards was a cot with a small baby which I
thought might be about three/four weeks old. Imagine the
shock when I was told this baby was just over three months
old. Some of the things you come across are unbelievable
unless you see for yourself. When was the last time you
had to touch a child to see if they were alive or dead?
It’s something you don’t think you’ll ever have to do but
I did it. The child was alive then but that was on October
9th. Two other beautiful 2 ½ year olds were lying in their
cots waiting for adoption as their families had simply left
them there. All this was only on part of one floor of the
hospital. The same scene is repeated throughout with terrible
heartbreak.
The TB hospital is a little more isolated. On the day the
group visited there were 76 patients registered. However
12 of them were missing - subsequently found pulling up
potatoes from a farmers field. When I say that there was
nothing but one small bowl of sausages between 76 patients
for dinner you’ll know why they were getting potatoes. Again
there were no sheets or blankets. Some of the beds had old
foam mattresses.
In this country the lucky ones are the children who visit
other countries during the summer months. Three – four weeks
in fresh air reduces one years build up of radiation from
their bodies.
The forgotten people are those in hospitals and orphanages.
The Belarussians have to work so hard to supply the bare
essentials (not clothes) for their own families that looking
after others is not an option - it would be a luxury but
luxuries are not found in this country. The life expectancy
for a man is 55 years and for a woman it is 61 years.
Thrift is taken to the utmost here. Next time you have a
cup of tea think of a friend who, while making a cup of
tea one day was told “No, get another one Brendan, that
one has been used four times already.” The only worrying
thing was that the one bag had been used by four different
people.
The immediate need in the hospitals is for food, bed linen
and medical supplies e.g. packets and tins, rice, crackers,
pasta, soups, stews, tuna, salmon, fruit, breakfast cereals,
painkillers, cough bottles, plasters, vitamin tablets, dettol,
soaps, toothpaste & brushes, blankets and sheets.
Between all the heartbreaking scenes there were actually
a couple of light-hearted moments. One was when, upon asking
where the bathroom was, I was taken outside and shown the
general location at the bottom of the garden where the toilet
was - a large hole. Not being able to see very well in the
dark and afraid to move very far I looked for the nearest
shed and made for the back of it.
Now when answering a double meaning question I can say that
I did it outside under a starry, starry sky - but very hurriedly
in case of interruption. If you can help in any way or would
like more information please contact 045-869419 or the Tir
na Mona office at 045-869977. Thank you most sincerely to
all those who donated blankets, sheets, food and medical
supplies recently. These supplies left Ireland for Belarus
on Monday 23rd October and will arrive by Thursday of the
same week.
Mary Murphy
Community
& Development Notes
TIMAHOE
– DONADEA WATER SCHEME
Collectors are at present out collecting the next installment
for the water. The collectors are as follows:
Timahoe area |
Ger Kelly |
Drehid area |
Gerry Woods |
Mucklon area |
Liam Egan & Eddie O’Brien |
Derry area |
Pauline Finnegan |
Ballagh & The Range |
Dessie O’Leary |
Cloona area |
Davey Holton |
Hortland area |
Eamonn Maguire |
Cooltrim area |
Liam Doran |
Tiermoghan area |
Tom Kearns |
Staplestown area |
Feargal MacEoin |
AUTUMN/WINTER
COURSES.
COMMITTEE SKILLS COURSE
North West Kildare Development Company intends to hold a committee
skills course in ACDAL Business Park, Allenwood, in the near
future. This course will be run over weeks and will be available
to all clubs in the area. This course will be of particular
interest to chairpersons, secretaries, treasurers and p.r.o.’s.
If you are interested please contact the Tir na Mona office
at 045-869977
COMPUTER COURSE
Tir na Mona are looking into running a computer course for
beginners in the New Year. If anyone would be interested in
such a course please contact Morna at the Tir na Mona office
at 045-869977 as we need to know if there would be sufficient
numbers for such a course.
Tir na Mona on the Web
If you have friends abroad with access to the internet they
can now contact us at tirnamona@hotmail.com
COMMUNITY
& VOLUNTARY FORUM
On the 5th October last the latest round
of elections for the community & voluntary forum took place.
This involved selecting representatives for the two places
on the County Development Board. Both myself and Aiden Keane
were reselected to the County Development Board. Area representatives
for the executive of the Forum were also elected. The executive
representatives for the Clane electoral area are Ian Donald
of Allenwood Dev. Assoc. Ltd., representing groups with
an emphasis on social development and disadvantage and Tessie
Curry of the B.R.E.D.A. centre in Johnstownbridge, representing
groups with a focus on culture, sport, recreation and environment.
The first meeting of the executive took place on 19th October.
The new executive has a lot of work before it, including
working on issues for the County Development Board and the
Strategic Policy Committees as well as building the network
of groups currently involved in the Forum and developing
services for these groups. I would like to thank all those
who turned out to vote at recent election nights in the
Keadeen Hotel and in particular I would like to thank Morna
Hosey for organising the turnout. If any of the groups represented
would like to raise any issues at the Forum or the County
Development Board please contact Morna @ 045 869977. An
“Issues Paper” will shortly be sent out to all groups from
the County Development Board. It is important that groups
take this opportunity to let the County Development Board
know if these are the issues that are important.
Gail Maher
Table
of Events, in the Community
6th
Nov |
Tir na Mona AGM, Kelly’s Bar, 8.00 p.m.
|
9th
Nov |
Mobile
library in Staplestown @ 11.50 – 12.30pm
|
10th
Nov |
Race night in aid of Staplestown / Cooleragh &Newtown
/Donadea Senior Citizens in Connollys of Ballagh, 9.00pm
|
17th
Nov |
Cappagh
GFC Dinner Dance 9pm, Spa Hotel, Lucan
|
18th
Nov |
Adult
Social Club, The Hob Kelly’s Bar, Timshoe, 3.00 p.m
|
23rd
Nov |
Mobile
library in Staplestown @ 11.50 – 12.30pm
|
23rd
Nov |
Table
Quiz in Kelly’s Bar Timahoe @ 9.00pm
|
24th
Nov |
Kildare
Camogie Board Presentation, Celbridge, at 8pm
|
24th
Nov |
Derry
Gun Club Draw in Roches, Donadea
|
29th
Nov |
Camogie
Board AGM in Sarsfields at 7.30pm
|
1st
Dec |
Poker
Classic in Kelly’s Bar @ 9.00pm
|
Articles for the MONA Newsletter can now be dropped
into the Tir Na Mona office at St. Kevin's G.A.A. club,
Staplestown. If possible please supply articles on disc
in Microsoft Word format. If you have an event happening
during the first week of the month please let us know about
it in time for the previous issue as it take approx. 10
days to produce the MONA. The NOV issue was put together
by Orla Kelly, Therese Holton, Nicola Lynam and Hugh Maher
The
views represented in this Newsletter are not necessarily
the views of the MONA committee. While every attempt
is made to print factual information, we are not
responsible for third party information that may
be incorrect at time of going to press. Where
errors occur, every attempt will be made to redress
and amend. All parties have the right to reply
within the MONA Newsletter.
Thank
you.
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