Trócaire worker wins award for overseas work
That was Sally O’Neill at the tail-end of the 1970s. These days, she is older, wiser but remains as compassionate and as committed to her work for the aid agency Trócaire as she has been for three decades and more.
That is why she is this year’s recipient of the Hugh O’Flaherty International Humanitarian Award, dedicated to honour those who exemplify the kind of courage shown by Irishman, the Vatican Pimpernel who, in wartime Rome, outfoxed the Nazi occupiers and saved the lives of thousands.
Under threat of execution by the Gestapo, the monsignor organised a “Rome Escape Line” which directly saved some 6,500 prisoners of war, Jews and other Roman citizens from capture and certain death.
Sally, from Co Tyrone, is no less courageous. She has been at the heart of Trócaire’s overseas operations for more than 30 years and is currently working as Trócaire’s regional manager for Latin America, based in Honduras.
Sally’s decision to join Trócaire in 1978 was prescient. Within weeks, three bitter civil wars broke out in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Over the following three years, 100,000 people were massacred and Trócaire began a major campaign to help the survivors and create awareness in Ireland on the causes of violence.
She led delegations of bishops and politicians to Central America so they could see the suffering. In January 1980 she translated for Archbishop Romero when he met with a delegation of Irish bishops. Six weeks later he was murdered by a military death squad as he celebrated mass in San Salvador.
For the next three years she oversaw Trócaire’s work providing humanitarian aid to more than two million refugees in the Central American region.
According to Trócaire director Justin Kilcullen, she is well deserving of the award which was presented last Saturday at a ceremony in Killarney. “Sally combines extraordinary energy with courage, commitment and compassion,” he says. “She has been fearless in her determination to work with oppressed communities to help them overcome injustice.”
Sally’s work, in the early days of Trócaire, influenced greatly the direction the organisation would take in all its activities, combining action for the most vulnerable people with outspoken advocacy with governments, at home and overseas, to tackle abuses of human rights and promote justice.
During her time as deputy director and head of Trócaire’s International Department, Sally took overall charge of a joint programme by 14 Catholic development agencies in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. At the time, development aid was denied to both Vietnam and Cambodia by the EU and the US. This programme brought much needed assistance to the victims of war and the survivors of the Pol Pot regime in these countries. In 1988 Trócaire was the first NGO to be allowed to establish a field office in Vietnam since the war ended there in 1975.
Sally was also active in Africa. She spent time in Ethiopia during the famine in the mid eighties and played a central role in Trócaire’s response to the famine in Somalia in the early 1990’s. She established Trócaire’s programme of support in the Gedo region, where Trócaire continues to be active today.
In 1995 she returned to Central America to establish Trócaire’s new field based programme and to oversee the expansion of the agency’s work tackling poverty and inequality in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
As Justin Kilcullen put it: “Sally is an inspiration to all of us in Trócaire. She has truly made a difference to the lives of thousands of people.”
* Further details: www.hughoflaherty.com
