FAR EAST ADVENTURES
DUNDALK MAN HUGH COONEY TELLS OLIVIA RYAN HOW HE LEFT THE COMFORTS OF HOME BEHIND TO TRAVEL ACROSS ASIA AND HELP THOSE HE MET ALONG THE WAY
IT was meant to be the adventure of a lifetime for Dundalk man Hugh Cooney, but travelling far off the beaten track throughout Asia led to him raising money to build a school for children in a jungle village in Laos.
Back home in Dundalk for the summer months, Hugh spoke about the joy of completing the five month project which he admits was ‘at times a logistical nightmare’, and his lifelong ambition to build an orphanage.
‘It hit me when I turned 50 really,’ he admits . ‘I was working in Paypal, had a really good job, earning a decent wage. But I wasn’t happy, there was so much more I wanted to do.’
In some ways, it could have been a mid-life crisis of sorts, but for Hugh it was his ‘carpe diem’ moment to travel, and see where the adventure took him.
‘I didn’t have a plan really, although I did get in touch with one organisation in Thailand before I left, so I headed there to volunteer for a little while, to teach English, and see the country.’
Travelling on to Cambodia and Vietnam, he saw first hand the legacy of the devastating Khmer Rouge regime, and its continuing impact on the people who live there.
‘Cambodia and Vietnam in particular have really opened up in terms of tourism, and there are a lot of backpackers now heading there to explore,’ said Hugh, who decided early that he would largely stay away from the tourist trails and ‘just see where the journey led me.’
The spectacular journey he found himself on stretched across Asia, into some of the least explored regions, where he confides now ‘are places where no one goes to.’
‘But I have always been one of these people who, if you tell me I can’t go somewhere I’ll say ‘ Why?’ and go anyway!’
Some of the villages where lawless communities where a guard with a machete met him on the way in, which he admits now ‘did lead me to think what the hell am I doing?!’
In one such place, far into the mountain region of northern Laos, in an area known as the ‘ Golden Triangle’ ugh trekked for hours on end, in searing heat, to reach a community that he was warned
It meant so much to see the kids going to class, in a proper building, thanks to the generosity of the people of Dundalk, I was so proud.’
was ‘ a no go area’.
‘I didn’t speak the language, so I found myself an interpreter and explained to them that I was travelling around by myself and just wanted to visit their village and met the people.’
As an opening gesture Huge had gone to a local market and stocked up on football shirts and shorts, and any footballs or other items he could find, and donated them to the community.
‘ They accepted them thankfully, but then it was explained to me that I had to accept something in return.’
‘It turned out they wanted me to eat with them, so I accepted, only to realise that we would be dining on rat!!’
‘I realised there was nothing I could do, I couldn’t turn it down, that would be taken as a great offence, a situation I didn’t want to get into as I thought about the guy holding the machete on the way in!
So I began to eat it.... and it was OK, not as bad as I thought, but I certainly won’t be trying it again!’
Hugh’s adventure took him across Laos, travelling, he admits, ‘sometimes for 14
and 15 hours by bus across difficult terrain.’
But it was a fortuitous stop off in one village, Ban Bouakham, again in northern Laos, which would lead the Dundalk man to make an impact.
‘One of the main ways I made contacts and got to know people was by volunteering to teach English. In this village I noticed the kids were going to school in what was basically a cow shed, even though there was a school building beside it.’
‘When I asked why these kids were being taught in a shed I learned that they were children from poorest parts of the rural community, whose families could not afford to send them to school. To be honest, that hit me really hard, and I just knew I had to do something about it.’
So, he took to social media, where he had regularly been posting updates of his travels, much to the amusement of his family, friends and former work colleagues, and decided to appeal for donations to build a school.
‘I didn’t know what would come back, or how people would react.... but the response I got was incredible.’
Among the heartwarming stories of those who raised money was a little girl called Orlaith Lavery from Bay Estate who donated the entire contents of her piggy back to help the children from Laos, and Hugh’s own little niece Darcey Bell Cooney, whose whole school in Newry got behind a fundraising campaign for the new school building.
‘I was so proud of my niece for starting that campaign, and to Orlaith for her selfless act in donating her own money.’
With such a positive response to the appeal, Hugh soon found that €5000 had been raised, to which he added a sum of his own money.
‘Once I had the funds I had to set about sourcing the material and getting the build under way.’
As the building work got underway, led by members of the community, Hugh continued to make the 160 kilometre trip every day to push the project along and get it to handover.
‘I also worked on securing a signed order that children who attended the school would be educated freely, which was the whole reason I decided to do this in the first place.’
After five months, ‘and a lot of hard work and persistence’ Hugh said he was ‘ beyond thrilled’ to eventually hand over the building to the community.
‘It meant so much to see the kids going into school, going to class, in a proper building, and also that it came about as a result of the generosity of the people of Dundalk, I was so proud.’
Hugh’s ambitions haven’t ended there though, as he adds ‘My ultimate dream is to build an orphange. There are so many children, many that I met, who are on their own, with no families, nowhere to live. I know that I have to do something to help, I just have to.’
He admits too that his time back home in Dundalk is limited as he has decided to make Laos his home.
‘I guess I found where I wanted to be. Ironically I couldn’t settle at all when I went there first, but now its my home.’
Hugh has launched his own humanitarian initiative through the hash tag ,# Children Laos, and is planning the building of an orphanage in a community where it is needed most. For further information about his work, or indeed questions about visas needed for travelling through Asia, contact Hugh on email aodhst@gmail.com