Down footballer part of ambitious plan to plant 1 Million trees in Africa

Down Gaelic footballer Ryan McAleenan is in Africa this week as part of an initiative to plant a million trees and raise awareness of the impact that climate change is having on some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

The week-long trip to Kenya by 50 Irish GAA stars will include a showpiece ‘Plant the Planet’ games between the visiting GAA players and Kenyan Premier League football team, AFC Leopards, as well as visits to Self Help Africa projects, a programme of tree planting activities, and a reception hosted by the Irish Ambassador to Kenya. 

Participants aren’t just raising awareness about climate change, as they are collectively aiming to raise more than £350,000 in sponsorship support, to plant a million trees in Africa and support the efforts of Irish development charity Self Help Africa to combat the effects of climate change amongst small-scale farming communities. 

The event is being organised, for its second successive year, by former Galway dual-player Alan Kerins ‘Warriors for Humanity,’ the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) and Self Help Africa, and will also include a programme of sports sessions with children, and participation in Irish brother Colm O’Connell’s elite training camp, alongside some of Kenya’s leading long distance athletes.

Speaking about the upcoming event, Alan Kerins of Warriors for Humanity said that “Gaelic Games has an ability to bring communities together for a greater good, and we are sure this event will be no different.”

Self Help Africa’s Martha Hourican said that tree planting in Kenya would do much more than remove harmful greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, as the trees being planted would provide alternative sources of food, additional crops that could be sold for income, and would help restore degraded land and improve soil quality for farming in Kenya and elsewhere on the continent. She said that each of the participating competitors was seeking to raise  £10,000 in sponsorship to fund the tree planting campaign.

Gaelic Players Association CEO, Tom Parsons, said that a key element of the GPAs role was to empower inter-county players to realise the bigger picture beyond sport. “Not only will this campaign allow the players to come together and experience something entirely different, but in doing so they will also be able to leverage their influence off the field of play in support of the planet and some of the world’s most challenged communities.”

To find out more or make a donation, please visit: www.selfhelpafrica.org