A former politician and GAA legend will hike 5,000 metres to Everest Base Camp in aid of charity.
Ex-Kerry football star Jimmy Deenihan is taking on the arduous climb to raise money for Irish aid agency Goal to supply a rural community in Uganda with clean safe water.
Mr Deenihan, who is a GOAL board member and who also served as a Fine Gael Minister, has been training for the past six months, using Ireland’s highest peak Carrauntoohil in Kerry to practice on.
The 67-year-old will complete the journey over two weeks between November 14-30, with fellow Kerry natives Carly Horan, Claire Trant and Blondie Horan.
The former Minister of State for the Diaspora said he was inspired to take on the challenge after a previous visit to Uganda last year.
The five-time All Ireland winner said: “I saw at first hand the acute need, and how access to a clean water supply in the heart of a village transforms lives.
"As well as resulting in a decline in diarrhoea, typhoid, and cholera it means women and children don’t have to walk miles every day to get dirty water at a lake or waterhole.”
According to Mr Deenihan, only 39% of the population have access to safe water and sanitation critical for health, dignity and economic productivity.
However, the country has made strides in providing access to safe water.
Since 2003, GOAL Uganda has improved access to water for over half a million people in the Districts of Bugiri and Namayingo in Eastern Uganda.
Over the last 16 years the partnership has resulted in over 400 school and community boreholes being drilled, the rehabilitation of over 125 existing boreholes and the building of over 45 latrine blocks in schools.
The cost of building a new borehole in Uganda is €6,900, while the cost of rehabilitating a borehole is approximately €2,800.
Mr Deenihan hopes to raise enough money to provided at least one new borehole with a fundraising goal of €7,000.
Appealing for support, he said: “I would love to raise enough money to build at least one new borehole. This relatively small investment can transform hundreds of lives.”
Donations can be made at: https://give.everydayhero.com/ie/jimmy-climbs-everest.
