'All I see is a human being in need'
Regan Kelly
John McCauley and a team of Mullingar volunteers have probably recovered now, having completed another campaign of work in Africa for the non-profit, Tanzanian Heavenly Homes. John and teams have been travelling to Tanzania for 14 years now, working with an organisation called Senior Hope to provide comfort for elderly people in the area.
This year, there were 35 people, one of the largest groups in those 14 years, and as he said, “it was a great crowd of enthusiastic people and it’s more than I would have liked to bring, but who am I to say no?”.
The volunteers organise fundraising events throughout Westmeath each year, and all the money goes to the care of the elderly, and the people travelling to Tanzania pay their own costs. John makes a point of never asking people to provide financial contributions, but such is the success of his work that he frequently receives unsolicited donations.
John said: “We now have 19 elders living in a lovely retirement village that people in Mullingar and the surrounding areas have paid for.
“I thank the people of Westmeath and Mullingar for supporting us in getting this work done.”
In the retirement village, John and his crew work help to build homes for the elders, in which they have running water, toilets, beds and showers, luxuries that many of those people have never had before.
This year, the group focused on building cooling stations, safer bathroom fittings, and wheelchair accessible pathways, so that elderly people could live more comfortably at Senior Hope.
For John’s crew, the back-breaking work in the African heat included mixing cement with shovels to create a pathway for the elders, so that their wheelchairs can be pushed more easily and they are not walking on rough ground.
“Our gang worked so hard, mixing and cementing, nobody being asked, everyone just wanted to do it and were eager to help,” said John.
Besides their work with the elders and Senior Hope, the Mullingar team also spent three days travelling through the hills and surrounding areas with government officials, handing out rice, maize, beans and whatever supplies people need.
It can be an eye-opening experience for the volunteers, many of whom witnessed extreme poverty for the first time.
“This is where you see human beings living in conditions where you wouldn’t have a dog, with absolutely nothing,” said John.
“Thankfully, we were able to give them a bit of relief for a few months, with food, maybe a mattress, some blankets and even shoes.”
John went on to praise the younger volunteers: “The young people with us rolled in behind it very much and were taken aback from witnessing the conditions the people were living in, seeing what it was like to have absolutely nothing.”
Since John has been doing this for so many years, he and the locals have formed a bond, always smiling when they see him and his crew.
“The reception is brilliant, you can see the smiles on their faces, and I love it.
“They are so thankful for the smallest of things, like a pair of shoes or a little hat, just to feel that someone cares about them.
“All I see is a human being in need, I don’t care about anything else, it’s nice to be able to reach out and help that person.”
John helped local children for five years, but he was inspired to help the elderly after seeing how difficult life was, specifically for them, in Tanzania.
He said: “Here in Ireland, we have services that can help people like the homeless, but in Africa, they don’t have this.
“I found that there were few supports for the elders, even for things as simple as prescriptions and transport to the hospital.
“We helped one woman who had a stroke; there was no money to take her to the hospital or to buy pain relief, but we were able to get her transport to the hospital at least.”
“It’s so sad, with so much wealth in the world. The difference in our lives is massive.”
John’s passion for the project remains strong, and all going well, he and a local crew will return to Tanzania in 2026.
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