Tanzanian Heavenly Homes

Shauna Maher, Sarah O’Brien, Aoife Kenny, Anna Fallon and Taylor McCormack at the fundraising painting night.

Anna aiming to ‘get new perspective’

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Shauna Maher, Sarah O’Brien, Aoife Kenny, Anna Fallon and Taylor McCormack at the fundraising painting night.

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The group of artists includes Eileen Shaw, Ann McCaul, Carmel Gilbride, Siobhán Darcy, Sharon Faulkner, Eimear Nally and Yvonne Gilbride.

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Andrina donated her time and hosted a painting evening fundraiser for Anna.

Tanzanian Heavenly Homes

Published: Sat 21 Jun 2025, 9:00 AM

Last updated: Sat 21 Jun 2025, 1:31 PM

Anna Fallon, who is joining the Mullingar trip to Tanzania this year for the first time, has known John McCauley for most of her life. A teacher at Presentation Junior School and Holy Family Primary School, the 23-year-old went to St Kenny NS and knew John through his close links there and through her family.

She heard about his work to help the poor in Tanzania when two of her friends went when they were in transition year. “They were the first people I knew that took on the trip as younger people,” said Anna, “and I didn’t realise he had taken students. Then my sister went the following year, and all of my family have gone since.”

Anna’s friends are Caoimhe O’Brien and Mary Reynolds, and her three sisters are Emily, Sarah and Kate. “A lot of my cousins went as well – it was a huge family thing for us for a while, so seeing how well they got on and how much they got to help [the poor in Tanzania] really inspired me to go as well.”

Everyone who goes on the trips John organises through his group, Tanzanian Heavenly Homes, does fundraising, and Anna has been busy on that front. “We hosted a painting night in the Shandonagh clubhouse, and my mam held a coffee morning as well,” she said.

Other, practical, preparations include vaccinations “and John encourages us to meet up and talk to people who have gone before, in a group setting to get advice from them on what we can do, how to prepare, what to bring with us, even the mindset we might be in when we go over there. We talk to each other and meet the group before we head out so that we’re not meeting strangers for the first time.”

Anna concluded by saying: “The reason I’m going is to help out others who are less fortunate than we are, and to see how people live out in Tanzania, and just get a new perspective.”