 rights movements and trade unions and they've been involved in crises and issues in countries like El Salvador, Somalia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Malawi. It's a long list. So to tell us more about this year's appeal, I'm actually joined by Lady Kenny, woman, Catherine Devine, who joins us on Zoom now. Catherine, good afternoon to you. Good afternoon, John. Thanks for having me on today. No problem. Tell me, first of all, how you got involved with Trocra, how you've ended up working with Trocra? Yes, I've been working with Trocra for the past two years. And so I work on the communications team. And my background would be in journalism. I used to work for the Lederkenny Post as well back in the day. And then moved on to the Irish Independent. And then in the last couple of years, I've really moved into the international development space. So Trocra is a fantastic organization to be working for. And it's a very exciting year as we celebrate our 50th anniversary. So you touched on that and all the countries we've worked on over the past 50 years. And this lens now we're focusing on Somalia. So it's a great time to be working for the company indeed. So tell us about the situation in Somalia and why it's reached a crisis again. Yeah, so in Somalia, unfortunately, the reins have failed again. So the people there, they've just faced their fifth drought in a row, which is very hard to imagine. And more than eight million people, which is half the entire population in Somalia are currently in dire need of assistance. So the Trocra box this year, it tells the family story of the family and the Mahat family. So we have mother and bio and her husband, Matt and their nine children. And I suppose because of the drought, they had to leave their home and walk for three days to get an area called ghetto. And they're now one of the thousands of families who are trying to rebuild their lives in the camps for internally displaced people. So they feature on the Trocra box. Trocra has been in the ghetto region for over 30 years. And we run a lot of health services, a lot of malnutrition programs for children. And our country director there, Paul Haley said at the moment, he's been there for over 20 years. And he said this is the worst he's ever seen things. So I know in the media, we see a lot of attention on the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria. We've just marked the one year anniversary in Ukraine. But sometimes the forgotten crisis, such as those in Somalia, really need to be highlighted. So that's why it's the face of Trocra's campaign this year. Okay. So in a way, you have to fight your corner and you have to make sure that the profile of, in this case, Somalia is not forgotten about. And then you tap and you've, I presume, partners in countries that you work in and where you're on the ground. Yeah, absolutely. We work through a lot of partners in all of the countries we work in across the 24 countries. And in Somalia, Trocra works with the likes of Echo and Our Shade. They'd be great funders for us. But Trocra itself runs most of the hospital services in ghetto. And it's very nice that we've been there for so long that the people within the communities refer to Trocra as the mother of ghetto, because Trocra has really stayed in the area, despite the numerous conflicts, the numerous drives Trocra has really remained presence there. But indeed, we do work with lots of partners within the area as well. Is it true that you run all the health services in that district? And I mean, that that supports thousands of people, tens of thousands of people. Would you believe it supports over 200,000 people a year? That's the number of people who are really in dire need. That's just the hospital services alone. And the area we're talking about is an area called ghetto. And that's roughly the size of Ireland. So you know, it's kind of it's kind of hard to relate it back that you can have one organisation that's there support 200,000 people, roughly the size of Ireland. So it's very stark numbers. The people there are just I can't stress how much the need is really there in that area. And a lot of young people, a lot of children are presenting themselves in you've noticed in recent months. Yeah, absolutely. I think at the moment, the figure is there's four times more children that need help than Trocra can actually provide support for. That's how large it is. And even the family that we have on the Trocra box this year, they've just had their ninth child. And there was two twins who were two years old who when they got to the camp in in ghetto, they were in dire need of nutrition. And so they were straight into the Trocra camp. But the family actually lost a two year old couple of years ago due to malnutrition. So it's just the children. It's kind of hard to fathom the need and what these families have really been through. And just using that family as an example, they wouldn't have left their land if their crops hadn't failed. And they're based with a situation that they either left or starved. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. And even, you know, the parents on the walk, they didn't have anything to eat at all for three days. They're really making sure they could get the children there. But they had other livelihoods there, you know, their animals, they were all wiped out because of the drought. Yeah, they really didn't have another choice but to leave their homes. Tell me the story of Josiane. I think that's how her name is pronounced, because 18 years ago, she featured on the the Lenten appeal on the on the Trocra box. And she's a good example, I suppose, of what can be achieved with a little help. And I suppose it's a little help from a lot of people that adds up to to a lot of help. So she she was 12 years of age. Yeah, so just just on your point first that you know, a lot can go a far away. You know, last year, the people of Donegal supported Trocra. They give a 32,000 euro in the Lent box last year. And as you say, Josiane is an example of just how far that money can go. So at 12 years old, in 2004, Josiane was on the box. And she had lost her brothers, her, her father to the genocide against the Tootsie in 1994. And when Trocra came across Josiane, her mother was really struggling and aftermath, the genocide struggling mentally and also struggling to provide for her young family. So Josiane still had three surviving brothers. And so after being on the Trocra box, Josiane stayed in school, she then went on to do a business degree. And she now works with Trocra and Rwanda as our finance officer. And we just recently did an update with her to see how she's getting on. And she said she's now 31 and she still keeps the Trocra box in her home. And she looks at it as a reminder of the support of Irish people and how different her life now is because of that support. And she just says she always finds it really hard to believe that just complete strangers were so generous. And she wouldn't be where she is today without it. And she now has two beautiful young boys. And her hope for them is that they'll be able to get education. And that's really a powerful tool for for people who are struggling in these countries. Just to be able to finish school. And it's I suppose it's part of it's part of growing up in Ireland almost it's it's iconic the Trocra box. And it's it's a great concept and that it's the the air comes into the house normally from school and and it's there then throughout Lent and we you know if we're if we're saving money by you know going off sweets or biscuits or whatever it is and we we put in whatever and they went Lent is over then and gathered up and send it off to Trocra or bring it into school or whatever. And if people want people won't get their hands on a box if they don't have one they're thinking maybe I could I could try that wherever they go. Yeah so you can get a Trocra box and any parachutes or schools and but you can also donate online or you can call 1800 408 408 to make a donation. And even with the Trocra boxes I know people say that we don't have change anymore but this year there is a QR code actually on the box so it's very easy to just click to donate or visit our website or again you can call the number 1800 408 408. OK brilliant. Catherine keep up the good work. Thanks for chatting with us. Thanks John. Bye.