Director's View
Trócaire Director, Justin Kilcullen
One action can change the world
Sometimes the most wonderful gift is the knowledge that you have helped change someone’s life for the better.
Since the launch of Global Gift seven years ago, 500,000 life-changing gifts worth over €17 million have been distributed to some of the poorest people in the world. Last year, 16,000 goats went to families in Kenya and Somalia, and 3,000 homes were built for Burmese refugees.
This year you can chose from nine wonderful ways to change the world including the gift of a house in India, chicks for families in East Africa, and weaving looms for Mayan women in Guatemala.
One of this years’ gifts is a school pack for Burmese children, living in refugee camps across the border in Thailand. This gift will provide refugee children with an education, so they can make a valuable contribution to their community.
Over 154,000 Burmese refugees are living in camps on the Thai-Burma border. Men, women and children are forced to live in cramped quarters in temporary structures. They are not allowed to leave the camp and they have no employment and no income while they are there. Some families have been living in these camps for over 20 years, with little hope of returning home.
As the world focuses on the recent protests by monks inside Burma, it is important to remember these refugees who have fled their homes from their own government, which has been accused of widespread human rights abuses
All of Trócaire’s gifts are carefully selected by local Trócaire partner organisations worldwide and sourced in that region. By investing in the local economy in this way, the whole community benefits as well as the family or individual who receives a gift.
You can buy a Global Gift online here, or by calling 1850 408 408. You can also buy Trócaire’s Global Gifts in Avoca and Veritas outlets nationwide or by popping into one of Trocaire’s offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork or Maynooth.
One kind act can change the world and make someone’s Christmas wonderful. Thank you again for your generosity and Happy Christmas from all of us at Trócaire.