The Koto Project -My Experience by Brian Fahy

On a recent visit to Vietnam I met Daragh Halpin in Hanoi City. Daragh helps run the Koto Project which is truly inspirational.

Koto takes in underprivileged and street children and by training them in their restaurant makes them employable and placeable with many of the branded hotels and restaurants in Vietnam.

Koto not only trains them in the kitchen and restaurant skills they also feed clothe, educate and teach them english as well as paying them. The restaurant is very busy and offers great food and is firmly established on the Hanoi tourist trial.

This project is catering based and very worthy of our support. Our aim is to organised a fund & organise scholarship training programmes to Ireland for the Koto trainees.

http://www.koto.com.au/

We're climbing Slieve Donard, Co. Down on the 9th & 10th of May!!!

Slieve Donard Climb: Our other worthy charity PSP -Mary's experience

My father was diagnosed with a disease called 'Progressive Supranuclear Palsy' (PSP) towards the end of 2006. In hindsight he probably had it for approximately seven years which is the average life expectancy of a patient with this disease.It is a brain disease affecting the area of the brain that controls balance, movement, vision (particularly upgaze and downgaze), speech, the ability to swallow and behavioural changes.

Unfortunately my Father displayed all of these symptoms.Because it is very difficult to diagnose, my Father attended lots of doctors and consultants over the years and each symptom was treated in isolation.

By the time he was finally diagnosed he was in the latter stages of the disease. It was extremely difficult and frustrating for him and for the family. At that stage we came in contact with 'The Progressive Supranuclear Association' in Northern Ireland. They were extremely supportive, not only to us as a family, but to all my Father's carers - Doctor, Physiotherapist, Occupational Therapist, Home Help etc. They provided packs containing information relevant to his care.

My Father bore the disease with incredible patience and dignity. He died in the comfort of his own home in the care of his family, supported by a wonderful medical team. From our point of view having the support and understanding of the Association was of immense help and comfort.Raising awareness of PSP, amongst the medical profession, the Government and the general public at large is essential as it still remains relatively unknown.

This is an opportunity for us to raise awareness of PSP and the work of the Association. And if my Father's death can make a difference then it will not have been in vein.

For more information http://www.pspeur.org/ or to make a donation to the climbers contact Noel or Brian 016778544

The Brandon Ten Raise almost €5k for Soft Ireland and we're gonna do it all again next year!!

Well it didn't quite take as long to climb the mountain as it took for me to write this blog. We all truly enjoyed ourselves and I can't explain the feeling of achievement we all got from getting to the top but mostly getting there as a team. Soppy or what, I know but doing great things together as a group really brings people together as a team.

Well it was all planned for May 25th; lots of planning went into the big climb. Noel from our office was using his powers of persuasion to get use some fab accommodation in Dingle at reasonable rates for some daring hospitality people and it worked. The Dingle Skellig was the base for our little adventure and celebration :) and they did a super job listening to us sing the Rattling Bog till some ungodly hour on the Sunday morning. Well actually to be fair it was Noel singing it as he was way too fast for the rest of us to keep up. Well we all made our way down to Kerry by planes, trains and automobiles on the Friday and myself and Fiona Teehan were very sensible (and scared) so went to bed quite early on the Friday night in preparation for THE CLIMB!!!

Saturday morning at the breakfast table everyone was stocking up on high energy foods to keep us going for the rest of the day. Ok, ok there was a fry included in that! So myself and Fiona in all our gear and there was a lot let me tell you. Not exactly 'picking up a date material' but 'keep you warm and dry cause it's gonna rain all day' gear. So there we were all ten of us in rain gear, walking sticks, back packs, water and wooly hats ready to go. Then our chariot arrived with our fabulous guide for the day and drove us to An Fhaiche.

So the games begin our team was made up of Brian Fahy our illustrious leader in Action Recruitment, me (Action), Noel Cafferkey (Action), Fiona Teehan (Council Member), Douglas Jordan (Fáilte Ireland), Paul O Toole (Tourism Ireland), Greg Manahan (iDirect), Fergal O Connell (Radisson Dublin Airport), Stephen Williams (HSMAI & Fitzgerald Group) and Conor O Connell (Gleann Fia). Not forgetting our amazing guide Con Moriaty from Hidden Ireland Tours http://www.hiddenirelandtours.com/

So we set off, all the lads raced off I was hoping this was not the pace for the whole expedition as I definitely won't have been up for it. Looking up at the second highest mountain in Ireland was incredibly daunting but I had my walking stick so I thought ah sure we'll be grand. It was pouring rain, no sun whatsoever let me tell ya it was a bit like 'oh my god why did I say I would do this again'. But it was for a great cause and I kept repeating to myself a quote I heard at the Managers Forum 'Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever'. So that kinda kept the quote in my head during the day.

Well myself, Stephen and Fiona thought it a great idea to invest in a walking stick, it had been a saviour for me climbing Croagh Patrick on numerous occasions so I was all for it. In Westport it was a fine strong stick you got however I decided I'll invest in a real posh one, it must be better I thought!So we’re walking, some people were doing a bit of running/jogging (whatever you want to call it, it was much faster than me) but I was most definitely walking up the steep incline to the start of the climb. Don't you love that the way you have to walk for ages up a really steep path to actually get to the start of the walk when you're like I thought I was on the mountain? The thoughts were running through my brain and my body kept reminding me how nice the bed was in the hotel and what a great spa they had as well. But I told the brain to ‘shut up’, we're getting to the top and the body was just going to have to suffer. It's always looking for an easy way out.

Then disaster hit, my fabulous fancy stick broke. Yes broke in two, I mean give a girl a complex like. It was horrific I was totally convinced no there is no way I'm getting to the top without the stick. I can't do it, I really can't, I needed it. Plus I'm going to slow the team down a mile; well they were practically a mile ahead of me at this stage anyway. They looked down at me and my little sad face after I broke my stick and were like 'are you ok?' Yes I have to admit it, I nearly cried how sad I know but when you're looking up at this big mad mountain that you're suppose to be going to the top of it, it was a little upset. So I held onto the stick as I was definitely going to get my money back as Stephen and Fiona were flying along.Then the voice of reason appeared in the shape of Douglas, he said get rid of that stick it's just negative energy and he took it off me. Well I have to tell ya I was like oh poor me and then said you know something he's right. So off I went again, still cursing the stick a little bit. :)

We walked and different people were going at different paces which I loved as I was paddy last. Going at your own pace was so enjoyable the views were amazing the fact that it was raining wasn’t even really that big a deal. Con our guide was excellent advising us of were we should and shouldn’t step. Some parts were pretty dodgy I have to tell you, then it was a good job there was no manicured fingernails between myself and Fiona cause the climbing bit up the rock face would have really damaged the French polish. Having stopped for loads of little mini breaks I really was amazed Con our lovely guide was not tying a rope onto me and pulling me up the damn mountain so we’d be back before nightfall. He advised me if I took smaller steps and controlled my breathing a little better I wouldn’t have to stop as often. A very polite way of saying ‘Hurry the Hell Up’, no he was an absolute gentleman and when we got to the summit he was giving me the extra tiny little bit of encouragement I need to make it to the top.

The top; well couldn’t see very much as it was pouring rain and actually even snowed ‘yes’ it was May in case you have to go back up and check when we did it. Check out the pic, me in the yellow and the answer is YES I was actually as cold as I looked. It was fantastic we all got to the top safe and sound; the form was great and the craic mighty. We got a few pics and then head down to find a cosy spot for lunch however the distinct lack of picnic benches and sheltered areas meant we were really getting close to nature with a few boulders for shelter while it continued raining. The sandwiches and flasks were out in a flask and some who shall remain nameless (you know who you are) were fed as they lunch consisted of two bottles of Volvic which were well gone by the first hour through dehydration from many pints the night before.The descent was really beautiful we walked along the cliffs and took in the breath taking views and how the fog hugged certain parts of the cliff edges and not others. It wasn’t hard to realize looking down into the Atlantic Ocean why this mountain needs to be respected and can be a very dangerous place.There were a couple of tumbles on the way down but nothing was hurt other than pride. After climbing the mountain who cared anyway if someone had fallen into a big of watery hole and they feet were soaking. All part of the experience!

Wow the bottom of the track never looked so good but at the same time it was such a great day you kinda didn’t want it to end there and it definitely didn’t. As the good hoteliers that we are, we visited the ‘Bothar’ and it was pints all round and large numbers of soaking wet climbers hugging the huge log fire they had on in their lounge. BTW: We did it in six and half hours, not bad!!!

Well we can’t forget what brought us all there; Brian and his support of SOFT Ireland http://www.softireland.com/ for whom we raised almost €5000 euros. It certainly was a really mixed bag of characters an amazing experience and a huge achievement for us all, all while raising money for a fantastic charity.

Till next year!!!!

Roll on Slieve Donard ......May 2008 If you are interested in joining us, watch this space mountain to be confirmed.

A huge big thank you to all you lovely people who sponsored us, the Brandon Ten and are so grateful.