North Corkwoman makes a Twitch in time for communities in Africa

A social-video fundraising initiative in Co Cork has shades of reality TV pioneer Big Brother about it, airing 24/7 on streaming platform Twitch.

Leah Corkery, from Dromahane in North Cork, has decided to live in a self-made shack in Kilbrin, also in the region.

She's undertaken the challenge to benefit MellonEducate, an Irish-based development charity focusing on improving education and rebuilding infrastructure in some of Africa's most impoverished communities.

With Covid-19 hitting some of these communities hard, the fund needed to act, and the organisation was looking for something unique, according to Leah, speaking to Patricia Messinger on C103's Today Show.

"A lady rang us, knowing that we were good for fundraisers, and asked us to think outside the box.

"So, I said when I came off the phone, 'right, why don't I put myself inside the box, rather than thinking outside of it'?", said Leah with a chuckle on the show.

Leah lives in the shack with family members, with everything live-streamed on Twitch, one of the world's most popular video services, and a destination for live-streaming.

The family do numerous tasks on-camera to entertain viewers, as daily life continues inside and outside the shack, similar to those in South African townships.

"There's not much inside them, just the bed and the few bits that you need, it's very, very similar.

"My brother and my dad are staying in the van off-camera to make sure we're okay overnight.

"We built it up in Kilbrin, my uncle, my cousin, and then my dad and brother, the four of them built it. We were very lucky with the weather, but last night, we were freezing."

Tune in on Leah's Twitch channel, and donate if you can.