Donegal GAA star Niamh in Africa to help plant one million trees

Donegal inter-county footballer Niamh Carr is among more than 30 inter-county Gaelic footballers, hurlers and camogie stars currently in Uganda for a week-long ‘Plant the Planet’ trip.

It’s the fourth annual visit by the GAA to Africa, organised by development charity Self Help Africa in partnership with the Gaelic Players Association and Alan Kerins’ Warriors for Humanity. The campaign to combat poverty and climate change in Africa has raised a staggering €1.7 million and planted more than four million trees on the continent.

Among those travelling with Niamh, who is from Cranford and lines out for Kilmacud Crokes in Dublin, are Limerick’s five-time All-Ireland winner David Reidy, Cork Camogie All-Star Saoirse McCarthy, Galway goalkeeper Connor Gleeson and Mayo’s James Carr. Each player has committed to raising €10,000 each, with the collective total now over €355,000.

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Speaking from Uganda, Kerins said: “It's an amazing legacy for the players to leave behind. Thousands of families will live off these trees long after this trip is over and we’re all gone.

“To be on the banks of the Nile, planting trees with local communities, was a surreal moment. It’s all about learning from each other. We use sport and music as a vehicle to break down barriers and connect people from different cultures and different tribes. And it's amazing what happens when you do that.”   

The group were also guests at the official opening of Uganda’s first one-wall handball alley in Jinja. The new alley is phase one of a major community sport and cultural hub being developed by Simba Wolfhounds, Africa’s only officially registered GAA club. Founded by Galway man John Walsh, the club now works with over 1,000 children across Jinja, giving them access to Gaelic football, hurling, camogie, and now handball. Walsh said the opening of the handball alley is phase one of a multi-use sports centre which will be equipped with a projector and sound system transforming it into an outdoor cinema and gathering space for the community.

Self Help Africa’s interim CEO Martha Hourican said that the ‘Plant the Planet’ trips to Africa were an incredible initiative and had allowed the GAA community to make a very real and lasting contribution to efforts to combat climate change on the continent.

“This is an inspirational campaign,” she said. “Daily, we see that communities who are least responsible for the harmful effects of changing climate, including droughts, floods and the emergence of new crop diseases, are experiencing some of its worst effects. These communities are on the frontline of climate change, and large scale tree planting efforts – which remove harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – together with the introduction of resilient crop varieties and ‘climate smart’ farming practice is key to tackling this challenge in the years to come.”