Arva man leading Trocaire's Lenten campaign

"There are now 1.02 billion hungry people in the world. That's one in six people, more than the combined populations of the European Union, the United States and Canada. Five million children under the age of five die from hunger and diseases caused by hunger every year - that's one child every six seconds. Yet there is enough food in the world to feed everyone." So says Arva man Donough Ryan, who is the regional liaison officer with Trocaire for East Africa and the Horn and based in Maynooth. Many big hearted and courageous Irish people are doing wonderful work for Trocaire around the World and Donough Ryan is proud to be one of them. The Arva man has been with Trocaire for nearly five years now and had been based in the head office in Maynooth for a duration. Prior to that, he was based in their Nairobi regional office in East Africa. He says the work is very rewarding and "I think a lot of people feel very lucky to be in a position to do this type of work. I enjoy my job immensely, that is the clearest way I can put it". Donough is a former student of St. Patrick's College in Cavan and spent some years in other occupations including teaching, prior to linking up with Trocaire. He told The Anglo-Celt that Trocaire is raising awareness of this growing hunger crisis through its Lenten campaign this year. He says that people throughout Cavan have always shown generosity to Trocaire and last year the Kilmore diocese donated €316,617 to Trócaire during Lent. "We are very grateful for this kindness and commitment to Trocaire's work and we hope that Cavan people will continue to support our campaign this year," he said. Donough spent time in South Darfur last year where people had to flee from their homes, and was there to have a look at some of the activities and supports that Trocaire had put in place for communities there. He added that the programmes were designed to help the people who had been displaced as a result of the conflict in Darfur. Trocaire's Lenten campaign, best known by the 'Trocaire box', is the organisation's biggest annual fundraising and awareness raising campaign on global poverty. During the six weeks of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Trocaire highlights an injustice faced by people living in poor countries and asks the people of Ireland to help. This year Trocaire hopes to raise €12 million to support its work supporting some of the poorest people in the world. Helping people to produce food is the first step to them feeding their families and themselves. Trocaire goes further - it trains farmers in agriculture, helps them produce, harvest, store, process, and sell their crops. It also helps farmers get small loans through a credit union scheme so they can develop their farms or start a small business. How is your money spent? Out of every euro: 91.5c goes in direct charitable expenditure, eight cents goes on fundraising and five cents in every 100 goes on administration costs. Meet Domitille Six-year-old Domitille from Rwanda features on this year's Trocaire box. She lives with her mother, Triphonie; father, Frodouald; brother and four sisters in a small house made of clay in rural Rwanda. Domitille's parents have just €1.07 a day to live off and feed their family of eight. The family survives on very little food. Domitille and her siblings have two small meals a day and her parents take just one meal to make sure that the children can eat. Domitille's job is to get up early to collect water for the family every day. She is still learning how to carry the jerry can on her head, so it takes her a little longer than her sister to get home. Domitille attends nursery school every day. She loves nursery and is enjoying learning how to write. When Domitille's parents talk of their children, their voices tremble with sadness and worry. However, there is hope for Domitille's family. They are part of a farmers' association, which is supported by Trocaire.