Moville man aids mudslide victims

MOVILLE man Albert Doherty last summer rowed from Prehen Boathouse to Greencastle to help raise money to build schools and houses in Uganda.

Now taking up the cause of the stricken mudslide victims of Bududa and Bupoto he has organised a gospel concert to raise funds to help people in the area - many of whom he regards as his friends.

He is involved with the Self Help Africa charity which takes a unique approach to aid in that it supports the sustainable long term development for community projects in Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Malawi and Kenya.

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Following his feat on the Foyle during the summer Albert travelled to Uganda last Autumn where he and his colleagues saw for themselves where the charitable donations were being spent.

He explained: "Self Help Africa does not give the money direct to farmers but through a credit union where the ladies of the house get a loan, they will have to pay back over a predetermined period of time, this 'seed' loan starts them farming gets them going.

"They are very happy as they can now send there children to school, they then can then have an education and a better life. They can build a proper house.

"In any one district the charity will only stay from three to five years then move on to another district. When I was there I met up with teachers from a school sponsored by the St Vincent de Paul.

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"I gave them sports equipment for the school I also had time to myself and I met with teachers at a primary school in Jinja which had 1632 pupils."

Albert said he has been in touch with the people he met in October but sadly not all the news has been good.

"Since I came home we keep in touch by email," he explained. "I got an email recently telling me about the mudslide disaster in Bududa and Bupoto 5000 people were displaced and 300 to 500 lost in the mud which had become displaced from a mountain, they are using tents and churches for shelter I was told recently one of the churches they were using has since collapsed."

The Whitecastle man said that the deforestation of one of the mountainsides had robbed the area of much needed protection against landslips.

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"Apparently the mountain used to be forested but the people cut down the trees and started to farm," he said. "Since the mudslide they have discovered that there was an underground river beneath the mountain."

"The area where this had happened were some of the people I met have they lost relatives it was very distressful to read emails from my friends," he added.

So Albert, his friends and colleagues, have decided to take up the humanitarian baton once again.

"We thought we would do a little to help the in the area of this mudslide by running a gospel concert in Knowhead Presbyterian church in Muff on the Friday, April 30 at 8pm," he said.

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"A variety of performers will be there to entertain us, please come and support us it will be a good night refreshments are available all monies taken at the concert will go directly to the relieving of the suffering over in Bududa and Bupoto."

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