Readers' Blog: We still have ‘Concern’ for others, 50 years on
In the run-up to Christmas, 50 years ago, a young couple, John and Kay O’Loughlin Kennedy, held a press conference in the Shelbourne hotel to draw attention to a famine in Biafra.
Fr Raymond Kennedy, a Holy Ghost missionary, who had just returned from the hunger-stricken region of Nigeria, was to be a key speaker.
Worried about the safety of 2,500 missionaries, the Catholic Church prevented him from speaking. Undeterred, John and Kay, together with friends and volunteers, raised £130,000 in one week. Their efforts resulted in the creation of Concern Worldwide.
Fifty years later, that same generosity is needed more than ever. Conflict, climate change, and inequalities have left an unprecedented number of people — over 140m — in need of life-saving assistance.
Earlier this year, Concern launched an emergency appeal, in response to the threat of famine across East Africa.
A five-year-old Somali girl, Yasmiin Hassan, severely malnourished and weighing the same as an average two-year-old, was the face of that campaign.
After 12 weeks of treatment, Yasmiin recovered. She was one of 53,000 children, who received treatment from Concern and, again, it was the generosity of the Irish people that made this possible.
At a time when we are experiencing an unprecedented scale of humanitarian challenges, Yasmiin’s story is a reminder that no situation is truly hopeless, and that supporting organisations like Concern is not just making a difference, it is making a stand against indifference.
Responding to inhumanity with humanity, channelling our most basic human impulse to end the suffering of others, as Kay and John did 50 years ago, is what is actually at the heart of who we are as a nation.
Thank you for allowing this life-saving work to continue and, on behalf of all at Concern Worldwide, let me wish you all a peaceful and happy new year.
Concern Worldwide
52-55 Lower Camden St
Dublin 2
