On August 4th the news broke about the explosion in Beirut. It was a terrible blow to a country that has suffered so much already. We wanted to help.
Ireland ranks fifth as the one of most generous countries in the world. Furthermore, Ireland has a continuous relationship with Lebanon that spans decades with Irish troops deployed there as part of a United Nation's peace-keeping effort. We knew that a fundraising campaign for Lebanon would resonate with many people.
In Fearless, we knew there was a Youth Club just like ours in Beirut called Litani Cultural Center, so we got in contact with them and asked in what way we could help. It was really great to hear voices over WhatsApp explaining to us the situation and sending us a website that they specifically set up for their fundraising effort. Seeing the photos of the Youth Club destroyed by the explosion propelled us to get moving.
As the girls who participate in Fearess couldn’t get together because of COVID restrictions, we decided to do a fundraising campaign by doing a virtual walk. We advertised it through a website explaining everything. Each girl would commit to walking nearly 200km around the Ring of Kerry.
Although the physical location is virtual, the walking is real. We signed up to MyVirtualMission and encouraged as many girls who could to join us in this campaign. Each of us would do 200km over 10 weeks. We set up a GoFundMe page explaining our aim and set as our target €1,000.
This fundraising campaign has been really rewarding, not only for the Youth Club in Lebanon but for us. Although we couldn’t be with each other, we could share an activity by doing this walk together. Through our Instagram Page and our WhatsApp group, we encouraged each other, giving confidence to those who were slower walking the route and congratulating those who were nearing the finishing line.
In less than a month, we hope to all cross the finish line and donate the €1,000 to the Youth Club in Lebanon. We hope that this money will contribute even just a little to restoring a building that does so much good in Beirut. It has been an honour to support them this way.
Fearless is a Brosna initiative made up of various youth clubs for girls across Ireland. To find out more about Fearless, visit our website or Instagram page.