My friend Terence O’Malley, who has died aged 79, was an inspirational teacher who became a passionate campaigner for the rights and welfare of the people of Afghanistan, and chairman since 2000 of Safe, the Irish aid organisation for Afghanistan.
Terry was fired by a deep sense of injustice at the neglect by foreign powers of their former battleground in Afghanistan. In 2001, a month after the September 11 attacks, he wrote in the Irish Times of that neglect and of the aid efforts that had been hampered by a failure to grasp local nuances of behaviour and custom. The exceptions occurred when aid workers “who had spent many years working among the Afghans … knew and understood Afghan tribal customs and identified with them and were privileged to have Afghans as close friends”.
In that spirit (and for comfort) he wore local dress when visiting remote communities on horseback, immersed himself in the culture – and made friends. He put his trust in Afghans and sought partnership with local NGOs, initially helping to educate young people for the reconstruction effort, later laying more emphasis on direct aid for rural development projects.
The rights of Afghan women were a key concern. Terry aided Mary Akrami, who founded the first women’s shelters in Kabul. He was equally intent on creating the conditions for change, knowing that a Safe-funded school where girls would study alongside boys was a gateway to their liberation.
Terry was born in Oldham, Greater Manchester, the son of Marion (nee Hilton) and George O’Malley. George’s job with ICI took the family to County Dublin when Terry was five and he was schooled at Midleton College, Cork, the High School Dublin and Trinity College Dublin, where he studied science and mathematics. Already he was drawn to the east: embarking for India straight after university, he spent six happy years managing tea estates in Assam.
He and Patricia Daybell were married in Dibrugarh, Assam, in 1968 – they had known each other for years in Ireland. Back in Ireland, they worked shoulder to shoulder at Aravon preparatory school, south of Dublin, where Terry was headteacher for 20 years from 1977.
The enthusiasm and sense of adventure that had taken him to India, and led him to get involved in Safe (Support for Afghan Further Education) in the 1990s, were part of what made Terry a gifted educator. Long before science became part of the Irish primary school curriculum, his pupils were engrossed in breeding locusts in the classroom – to name one award-winning project.
He drew the children into his own passion for cricket and other sports, for drama, music and much more. Behind his old-school gravitas and pursuit of high standards lay a belief in education in the fullest sense of the word, and a warm, deep and thoroughly modern rapport with his pupils, in many cases lasting long after they had left school and until his final days.
He is survived by Patricia, his daughters, Kate, Clare and Lucy, son, Jamie, his sister, Barbara, and seven grandchildren.
