Two Irish Red Cross delegates for Liberia

Donal will be based in one of the areas that suffered the most devastation, in the far north-eastern corner of Liberia near the borders of Sierra Leone and Guinea. Working from the town of Voinjama, Donal's job will be to rebuild 80 wells and public latrines as well as five water supply stations to local health posts.

His work with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) will also involve building a further 80 wells in Zwedru city, located in the south-east of Liberia, near the border with Cote d'Ivoire, as well as chlorinating and building wells elsewhere. This will also include working in the camps for Internally Displaced Persons (refugees) which are filled to over-flowing and where toilets, wells and blocks of bathhouses are being built by the Red Cross.

A native of Co. Sligo, Donal has worked in DPR Korea (Nth), Honduras, Botswana, and Canada, as well as in Ireland. He was educated at NUI Galway and subsequently at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Donal (38) is the second of two Irish Red Cross delegates to be taken by the ICRC to Liberia. The first, Gary Buchanan, Co. Down, left for Liberia last week where he is in charge of distributing aid, in his job as a convoyer.

The Red Cross is appealing for close to Euro 20 million to fund its operations in Liberia for 2004. Key projects include finding the parents of over 2000 children who were separated from their families during the war. However, these children are only a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of people who fled their homes during the war.

Liberia's health system has collapsed and most water and sanitation infrastructure has been destroyed. The Red Cross directly runs four hospitals as well as providing aid to the homeless and offering protection to people in accordance with its mandate under the Geneva Conventions.

The population and size of Liberia is similar to Ireland, with a population of 3.3 million. Nearly half the population (48%) is under 14 years of age, but with 80% of the people living below the poverty line, life expectancy is very low at 48.15 years.

Anyone who wishes to support the work of the Red Cross can donate money by credit card either online at www.redcross.ie or by calling CallSave 1850 50 70 70 or by post to the Irish Red Cross at 16 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.E

nds