Day in the Life – John Walsh, Ugandan appeal organiser with Kilkenny's Newpark Hotel

John Walsh is a member of the Irish community in Uganda and is working with Kilkenny’s Newpark Hotel to spread the GAA sports across Uganda, while helping underprivileged Ugandan children.

Galwegian John Walsh, who is part of the Irish Society in Uganda, has a leg in both cultures, being the dad of two half Ugandan half Irish little girls – Kathleen and Mamara. He lives with his wife Debbie and their family in Kampala, the capital and largest city of Uganda.

Unfortunately, the access Irish children have to sports facilities are a luxury in Uganda that very few children have access to. John Walsh and his friends want to change that in Uganda, and with the tremendous support from Newpark Hotel, they will finally begin to build a home for the club and expand Gaelic Games to thousands of children here in Uganda for years to come.

Field of dreams: The Newpark hotel has launched an charity appeal to build a GAA pitch and clubhouse in Uganda in 2023. (L-R) Mikey Butler, Sinead Brennan, Paul Beehan and Aidan Forgarty. PICTURES DYLAN VAUGHAN

Here is a glimpse into John’s mission in Uganda…

John, how did Uganda become your home?

I left Galway many years ago and went to work in China. While in China, I joined the Dalian Wolfhounds GAA club. The club is a small club in Dalian, China, with about 40 players yearly, and only five were Irish.

Around the time I joined, a beautiful young Ugandan lady named Debbie also joined. Debbie had never heard of the GAA but was convinced to join one night in the pub. Eight years later, we are married and living in Uganda with two daughters.

You sent us a video of a kid in your village making a football from an old, ripped bed sheet. What challenges are these kids facing? 

They are faced with every challenge that Irish children and parents are lucky never to have to worry about. There is zero disposal income for most parents here, and thus sport is a luxury that comes far behind the necessity of paying school fees and putting food on the table.

However, children are children, no matter where they are born, they want and deserve the right to play and are highly innovative in their approach.

Children having sports gear here is something you don’t see. Therefore, most children play soccer; as the video you mention shows, you can make a soccer ball out of anything, in this case, ripped bed sheets.

How was Uganda’s first GAA club started and how has hurling and Gaelic football been received by the kids?

The Club was set up by two Ugandans, Robert and Moses who came across hurling videos on YouTube, and then introduced it to a school where Moses is a PE teacher.

They love playing both hurling and football, but they can’t get enough of the hurling, it is so different to what they have ever seen.

They also love the fact that they must get dressed up for it, as they can’t play without a helmet. So, it makes them feel very special to be part of a club that has specialist sports equipment required to play.

You can see the positive mental and emotional impact that the kids get from playing and training.

Kilkenny's Newpark Hotel's generous offer to fundraise €20,000 for your Club. What was your reaction when they contacted you and wanted to help?

When Newpark Hotel reached out, I was blown away. Anyone that knows me will say that stopping me from talking is an extremely difficult task, but honestly, I was left speechless - I literally had to tell them that I would phone them back the next day, as I did not know what to say! The fundraising has brought on the club by three to four years, it is the key to ensuring that we can begin a sustainable journey for the club.

What will the €20,000 buy?

Like every club, we have a lot of variable costs, but as a new club, we also have some fixed costs. The one major fixed cost we have is making a home. If you have seen our social media posts, you will notice it is not quality pitches we are playing on.

We plan to divide the donation into two, with 50% going to variable cost and 50% going to fixed cost. The fixed cost will go towards purchasing three acres of land near Kampala, where we will eventually build a pitch.

As the land will be quality agricultural land until we have the funds to develop a pitch, we will use the land to grow crops, which will be sold, and the money goes back into the club, providing a sustainable income.

The most important impact of the €20,000 will be the happiness it will bring to the children who will now have the opportunity to play sports, with full training gear, and not be concerned about requiring money to participate, in having fun as a child.

Mikey Butler, Sinead Brennan, and Aidan Forgarty. PICTURES DYLAN VAUGHAN

What impact will Kilkenny All-Star Aidan Fogarty and Gaelic footballer Sinead Brennan's trip to Uganda have on the kids?

Aidan and Sinead will have a massive impact for several reasons. Gender parity is a cornerstone of our club.

You will see boys playing soccer, but you rarely see girls playing sports. Having Sinead down here showing young girls and boys some GAA skills and Irish dancing if we are lucky will have a positive impact on Uganda girls that is difficult to quantify.

Having someone of Aidan’s hurling pedigree and winning record is extremely valuable to the club. The kids will be trained by someone who has done it at the highest level, year after year for 11 years. The tacit knowledge and skill Aidan will bring to the kids and trainers at Uganda GAA will be used for years and years to come.

If we are very lucky, we may even get Aidan on the dance floor! We won’t be able to keep up with his hurling ability, but Ugandans are born dancing, so we will give him a good run for his money on the dancing front!

They plan to arrive for your first All-Uganda Championship blitz over St. Patrick's weekend. What will Aidan and Sinead be doing with the kids?

The blitz is being held on the Sunday before St. Patrick’s Day. Aidan and Sinead will arrive the day before and help them to acclimatize to some nice equator sun; Kampala is only 50 miles North of the Equator and at an altitude of 1,200 meters above sea level.

On the blitz day, we will have Aidan show some skills and some basic training drills. Then throughout the week, Aidan and Sinead will travel throughout Uganda to participate in training in schools and visit areas where Irish charities and Irish Aid have been doing tremendous work over the past 50 years, helping the most underprivileged in society.

There is a small but strong Irish Community in Uganda, and through the community, we put a list of things together to ensure that this is a rounded trip.

There is a great deal of poverty in Uganda, but also wonderful natural beauty and wildlife. We want Aidan and Sinead to be able to experience everything from the work we are doing with the children in Uganda GAA, to the work of long-established Irish charities and Irish Aid are undertaking, to the beautiful scenery and wildlife in Uganda.

Upon completion, this pitch will hold two records before a ball is kicked; it will be the first full-size GAA pitch on the African continent and the highest altitude GAA pitch in the world, constructed on the banks of Lake Victoria. You must feel proud of that?

It is a great feeling; it is nice to have two records on the day we open the pitch.

The pitch will be the home of Uganda GAA, but from the beginning, when I got involved with Robert and Moses. I emphasized that yes hurling and football are great sports, but the thing that really sets the GAA apart is the community spirit that it builds. You cannot put a price on that.

When the pitch is fully completed, it will be there for any Irish club big or small, or just a few GAA players who want a holiday and test their fitness at altitude to come and use the pitch.

This is also part of our sustainability; if we have the pitch, and Irish people come to play on it, we win, and they win. The people travelling from Ireland have a great holiday and get to hit a sliotar at a height 200 meters above Carrauntoohil. They also bring some money into the local community here in Uganda, and GAA skills and experience for the kids.

From Kilkenny to Kampala - Mikey Butler, Sinead Brennan, Siobhan Donohoe and Aidan Forgarty. PICTURES DYLAN VAUGHAN

The Newpark team have set a goal of raising €20,000 through raffles, fundraisers, and sponsorship. How can we all help?

There are many ways that people back home can help. The Newpark Hotel has organized a great event to take place in Nowlan Park on February 5 next, and we would ask everyone to get out there and have a great day.

All the funds raised are going to a great cause, and for every euro you donate, we will stretch that to the maximum here to ensure that as many children can enjoy playing hurling and football as possible.

I would love people to go to the event in Nowlan Park as they will have the opportunity to share the field with some of the greatest players to have ever graced a hurling field. This is what I love about the approach that the Newpark hotel took, everyone is benefiting from this event.

I would also ask that you follow us on Twitter and Instagram @UgandaGAA. The more followers we have, the more we can share the positive impact that all the donations are making here and connect with clubs back home.

Donations can be made via https://www.idonate.ie/cause/newparkkilkennyugandagaafundriaser