Curragh Golf Classic raises over €3,500 for CARA Projects with TY student Aoife finding the CARA experience 'amazing'.

A golf fundraiser held at the Royal Curragh Golf Club on August 29 raised over €3,500 for the Cara Projects, an Irish registered charity which is totally funded and supported by volunteers. Aoife Byrne, a fifth year student at the Holy Family Secondary School in Newbridge was a volunteer earlier this year at the CARA Girls Rescue Centre in Kibiko, Nairobi, Kenya. “It was the best experience of my life”, said Aoife. “To be able to help in improving the lives and living conditions of girls our age and younger was just incredible, it really made us appreciate the comforts we have at home. I can’t wait to go back again next year”. Projects worked on included building a play area for the children, building fish ponds so they could harvest fish, which the centre can then supply to the market as a source of income, and the completion of a new training and empowerment facility. Aoife’s father John Byrne, together with Paddy and Mary O’Connor, Mary a volunteer for the past 9 years, organised a Golf Classic at the Royal Curragh Golf Club to help raise the funds for their return trip. The golf classic was hugely supported by both golfers and non golfers, with 41 teams competing. The winners were McDonnell’s pub in Newbridge, and Aoife would sincerely like to thank all those who took part. CARA Projects is the brainchild of local Curragh man Paddy O’Connor. In recent years, Paddy has worked on a number of projects in Kenya, ranging from building orphanages and schools to the provision of a mini-bus for a remote orphanage outside Nairobi. Paddy received a REHAB Kildare International Award for his work in Kenya.