The reigning Westmeath Rose Niamh Moriarty will travel to Belarus with 20 of her fellow Roses from the 2016 International Rose of Tralee festival including the current Rose of Tralee, Maggie McEldowney at the end of February of this year.
The ladies are off to volunteer with Chernobyl Children International at Vesnova Children’s Mental Asylum located in the Mogilev Region of Belarus. Vesnova is home to over 170 children with various forms of physical and mental disabilities.
Throughout their stay, Niamh and her Rose family will be staying in the Children’s asylum to assist with the daily routine and bringing some love and laughter to the children there.
Before they set off, the Roses hope to raise in excess of €20,000 for the charity who was founded in 1991 by Adi Roche, who will also travel with the Roses.
Speaking to Topic, Niamh said the Roses would be traveling to Belarus at the end of February. “It’s voluntarily run by Chernoybl Children International as Vesnova and is heavily involved with our CEO, Adi Roche, so every year there’s a tradition that there is a trip to support the asylum and help out with the daily activities. We’ll be flying in on a Wednesday for a five day trip and we will be staying at the asylum on mattresses. There is no running water and there won’t be any showers or anything like so we’ll have to work around that. It’s all for the good of the children and anything that we can bring with us to help, be it medical supplies or clothes or toys. It’s just about bringing some love and laughter to children who are not as privileged as we are here.”
Niamh admits that while she is a little nervous about the trip, she knows that it will be an amazing experience for her and the other 20 girls. “We’ve been told it’s not going to be easy and we all are a little bit nervous about what to expect but we’re excited at the same time. It’s great that we’re all going together and that the winning Rose, Maggie from Chicago is able to make the trip over from the United States. I know the Philadelphia Rose is also coming and the Toronto and Abu Dhabi Rose so it’s great that there will be some of the international Roses there too and not just the Irish girls. We’ve all made such fantastic friendships with each other now that we are like one big family so it’ll be nice to catch up with everybody. It’s also nice to undertake a trip that will be hard, with your friends by your side and I’m sure we will come out the other side looking at it as one of the best experiences we’ve had. The 2013 Westmeath Rose Shauna Coyne went to Chernobyl as well and she has been back numerous times since. For me anyway, I am really looking forward to it.”
On Friday 3 February Niamh is hosting a night of “Ceol and Craic” in the Mullingar Park Hotel with popular band “Ruaile Buaile” headlining the night. Tickets are €10 and available from The Mullingar Park Hotel, Mary Lynch’s Pub or on the door on the night with all proceeds going to Chernobyl Children International.
“All the Roses are having different fundraisers at the moment and I am going to two in Fermanagh and Cavan over the weekend. It’s great that we are all supporting each others fundraisers. Since the rose of Tralee we’ve all kept in great contact through different events and we’ll be going to the States in a few weeks for Paddy’s Day so it’s really exciting.”
If anyone would like to donate medical supplies or good condition clothing which Niamh could bring to Chernobyl please contact 0872652737.
