Visit to orphanage was 'life-changing' says Troy

Cllr. Robert Troy is behind an traditional Irish music night and Christmas Raffle which will take place i Murtagh's Bar, Ballynacargy on Saturday, December 12 to raise funds for a South African orphanage.Cllr. Troy visited the St. Francis Care Centre in Boksburg, Johannesburg last August for two weeks where he spent most of his time getting to know the children who live there.However, the care centre is also a sanctuary for terminally-ill aids patients, an anti-retroviral clinic offering free counselling, testing and treatment to all members of the community and provides home-based care for people infected and affected by the HIV virus."I made a personal commitment to myself that I would go out and do some voluntary work. My uncle is the Director of the Franciscan Missionaries Society, Fr. Ulick Troy, and he told me about this orphanage," explained Robert."It was a fantastic experience really and certainly you know, people say things like this are life changing, but it really was a life-changing experience," he continued."It was very tough emotionally. The hardest thing really was when you were leaving the orphanage in the evening and the kids were crying and they wanted you to stay, because while they have poor facilities when you compare it to Ireland, the care centre have good facilities when you compare it to maybe poorer parts of South Africa."I mean you had rooms where theere were ten kids in cots, almost on top of each other, you could just barely walk down past the cots. Most of the children had all their worldly possessions in a carrier bag, so it was really difficult to take it all in," said Cllr. Troy."They have nothing really. And their clothes: one child would be wearing it one day and the next day it would be on another child. The biggest thing they really are lacking is parental love and the love of a family; I suppose everything we take for granted in Ireland - the family unit, friendship, and love."Cllr. Troy went on to say the work carried out in the centre can only continue through fundraising:"There are no two ways about it, the work this place does is second to none. They provide good care, the children have their food and their medicine, but it is very tough. "The man that runs it, he's an eighty-three-year-old Franciscan Priest. He went to college in Multyfarnham when it was a second level college - Fr. Stan Brennan."The work that he has done since going over to South Africa is nearly unbelievable: he has built up this facility from nothing. He has also opened a second level college over there which has 1300 pupils."Having seen the good work they do, they do need help because they don't get any state aid from the government in South Africa: they are completely dependent on fundraising.An Irish music night plus Christmas raffle, with a first prize of a 32" plasma tv screen sponsored by Cleary's Electrical, a Christmas Hamper, a meal for two in Bloomfield Hotel, plus much more, will be up for grabs in Murtagh's on Saturday.Anyone wishing to donate a spot prize or buy a raffle ticket can contact Robert on 0877979890. "It's for a very worthy cause. I know we have very worthy causes in Ireland, but really and truly when you go out there it is unlike anything you've ever seen before," finished Robert, who said he is looking to do a longer period of volunteerism abroad next summer.