Naomh Conaill GAA presents donations to Glenties man for Zambia immersion trip

A Glenties man collected charitable donations at Naomh Conaill GAA club to be taken to Sables Nua school in Zambia.

Former teacher, Ronan O’Donnell, is travelling to Zambia alongside 11 TY and fifth-year students from St Joseph’s CBS School in Fairview, Dublin, and his partner, a teacher at the school who hails from Bundoran.

Sables Nua is a school in the city of Kabwe, about 140km north of Zambia’s capital city, Lusaka. The school was set up by Pat Fanning, a principal of St Joseph’s Primary School after he retired from the Irish education system.

The trip will be for just over two weeks, from July 15 until July 31. 

Ronan told Donegal Live: “My girlfriend is working at a school that is doing an immersion trip. She is from Bundoran and I am from Glenties.

“We are going to be working with a school in Zambia. Pat Fanning has been working over the years to help the school. It is the only school in Makalulu and serves the second-largest shanty town in the whole of Africa.

“At the moment, we have a lot of clothing donations, and the clothing donations are at their maximum because of the weight restrictions. Each student and teacher is bringing 225 kg of donations, and we will be there for nearly three weeks helping. 

“We will be building an extension onto the school, and focusing on the shelter, for a very small number of children who live in the school.

“I will be documenting the trip with the hope of helping them in the future when other people in Ireland go over and give a helping hand. The school is solely run on Irish donations. That is the only thing that keeps the school going.”

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Ronan also praised his home GAA club, Naomh Conaill, for their help.

He said: “The Naomh Conaill club was extremely helpful in donating to the trip. I played with Naomh Conaill all through underage and at senior level for a while, but I now live in Dublin.

“I would always have kept in touch with the club. I like to keep involved with the club as much as possible. I spoke to the organiser of the club and said that maybe it would be a good idea to put up a post if anybody had any shirts or jerseys to donate.

“The donations were great, and I went to collect the donations. I have the car full now for when we go back to Dublin and we will be distributing all the donations when we go to Zambia. 

“It is great to make everybody aware of the trip because it could entice other people to make the trip and to keep the school going.”

Should you wish to donate, a GoFundMe donation page is online at www.gofundme.com/f/st-josephs-zambia-immersion-trip-2025.