09/06/2026
With Concern Worldwide – I just got recognised as one of their top fans! 🎉
The first time I participated in the Vhi Women's Mini Marathon was to raise funds for Concern Worldwide UK , it wasn't planned but it happened and that was how I got into doing the marathon.
Concern Worldwide was actually started by two Brothers in 1968 during the Nigerian civil War . One of the brothers was a Holy Ghost Father working in the Eastern part of Nigeria (Biafra)
Having witnessed the famine, the crisis and how relief materials were blocked from getting to the region, parents were loosing their children due to malnutrition and illnesses. On his return to Ireland, he couldn't stop talking about what he had witnessed, he then teamed up with his brother who was working in the media and Concern was birthed. Awareness was created among the Irish public and funds were raised, tonnes of relief materials were shipped off to the affected region. Because of the blockage by the Federal Government of Nigeria these shipments were landing in Sao Tome, Gabon and Cotonou, then flown at night to the Eastern Nigeria and subsequently distributed during the daytime by the Holy Ghost Missionaries.
What started as an emergency response to the famine and suffering in Biafra became the basis for concern as an NGO.
Decades later CONCERN WORLDWIDE has continued to respond to anywhere there is conflict. To carry on doing this they have to depend largely on Government funding and donations from the public like me and you.
I am from the Eastern part of Nigeria where concern began their humanitarian work. Here I am in Ireland more than 50 years after the birth of CONCERN WORLDWIDE raising funds for Concern Worldwide to enable them continue the good work they are doing. This looks like a full circle, even though this event happened years before I was born I still feel very connected to the story.
There is actually a Statue of the Biafra Child in the Concern office here in Dublin.
