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Bóthar’s 15th Anniversary Travelling Meitheal
Dr. Surya Bajracharya, Dr. Fejzo Begaj, Dr. Nuridin Mestani and Marco Machado pictured at Bóthar’s ‘Travelling Meitheal’ recently. |
As Bóthar’s 15-year milestone was approaching, a lot of thought and discussion went into how this occasion should be most appropriately marked.
Common consensus decided that an event should be organised where supporters from all over the country would be invited to see how our work is progressing in the developing world.
Then, after some weeks, our representative in Kosovo, Dr. Nuridin Mestani, suggested that it might be a better idea if we bring Bóthar to the people rather than asking the people to come to Bóthar.
So that is exactly what we did.
Everybody agreed that this was an excellent suggestion and immediately we got to work on our travelling road show, known as "Our Travelling Meitheal". Meitheal was the name given to the group of farmers who used to come together in the past to do each other’s harvest and other large chores on the farm.
We invited representatives from each one of our project countries on each of the 4 continents where we operate. Africa was represented by Dr. Bernard Muyeya from Uganda, Asia with Dr. Surya Bajracharya from Nepal, Eastern Europe showcased Dr. Nuridin Mestani and Dr. Fejzo Begaj coming from Kosovo and Albania respectively and from South America, Marco Machado, Honduras joined the team.
During the week of October 16th – 21st, 2006 this group travelled around Ireland making presentations on the work of Bóthar. Taking in Tralee, Waterford, Dublin, Sligo, Athlone and Limerick, the response from supporters all over Ireland was inspiring.
Delivering to a full house every night meant that very interesting and informative presentations from all of our international participants were heard by so many of our supporters. On each occasion the presentations were followed by a questions and answers session, which proved to be the most popular element of each evening.
"Our Travelling Meitheal" was the first time that Bóthar had attempted anything of this nature and the outcome proved that Bóthar supporters really do care and are interested in all aspects of the programme. Naturally the plan is to build on this and visit towns and cities that were missed this time.
If you didn’t get the opportunity to join us last time, please come along to Bóthar’s next ‘Travelling Meitheal’.
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