Tiernan Dolan's work with GOAL
26 January 2012
Longford schoolteacher, Tiernan Dolan, is a long-time supporter of GOAL. For more than 20 years he has been relentless in fundraising on behalf of the organisation across Longford and beyond, and in raising awareness of GOAL’s activities on behalf of the poorest of the poor.Over the years, Tiernan has raised an enormous amount of funds for GOAL projects. In 2000, he was awarded Longford Person of the Year in recognition of his work on behalf of people in the developing world. And in 2001, the Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland honoured him with its Achievement Award, the first time it was presented for humanitarian work.
Tiernan is also an avid and gifted amateur photographer. He was Chairman of Longford Camera Club for many years, and was lead photographer with the now defunct magazine Kairos.
He also puts his skill as a photographer to good use for GOAL. Over the years, he has travelled constantly to GOAL projects across the developing world, capturing quite remarkable images. Tiernan’s photographs are put at the disposal of GOAL, and he stages exhibitions of his work throughout Ireland, in order to raise awareness of the plight of the poor and what GOAL is doing on their behalf.
Recently, he was asked to pen a few words on his experiences with GOAL for ‘The Roscrea Review’.
SCORING WITH GOAL
GOAL, the Irish humanitarian organisation, was set up by John O’Shea 35 years ago and for many of those years I have found myself involved in a variety of ways. GOAL was my choice of charity because it was, and is, a lean, mean machine which walks the walk rather than talks the talk.
My first role was as a volunteer fundraiser, a task which continues to this day.
Early on, more photographs were needed to spread the word of GOAL's work and being a keen amateur I offered my services. “You could be opening a door that you may not be able to close,” is what John O’Shea said before I left for war-torn South Sudan. How right he was. Now, many years and many wars, famines and natural disasters later, that door is blown off its hinges.
Sometimes a hand was needed at logistics, or with food distribution, but always the camera was at hand. Luckily the photos were used by local and national media as well as in ads to promote GOAL's work.
It's one thing watching heart-wrenching scenes on the TV, but nothing, absolutely nothing, prepares you for the real thing. The sounds and, in particular, the smells become buried deep in the psyche. But being part of an aid organisation is so much more than simply the sounds and smells of far-away distant lands.
It is a huge honour to be able to help those less fortunate than ourselves; it’s an incredible privilege to be welcomed into cultures foreign to our own.
Of course, the work can be heart-breaking and sad beyond words, but at the same time it’s rewarding in a way that also defies words. Thinking back over the experiences of 14 trips to places like Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka, what always remains with me, despite their mind boggling suffering, is the dignity and hope of those who are suffering most.
In Ethiopia, at a time when their land and lives were being ravaged by drought and famine, an elder presented me with the wooden bell of a dead camel as a sign of gratitude. Another prized possession is the headdress of the Taliban, given by an incredibly brave young woman who had risked her life to teach local children during the Taliban regime. And even though his house and livelihood was washed away during the tsunami, I can still hear a local fisherman thank GOAL for travelling so far to help.
Since becoming involved with GOAL, the support of the Irish people has been truly phenomenal. It has been, and continues to be, an absolute privilege and honour to be part of GOAL and to be able to offer support to some of the world’s poorest people.
- Tiernan Dolan