From Guinea to Valentia for Samuel

A MAN by the name of Samuel Camara has been living in the Valentia Island community for the past few months and residing in Knightstown. He has also become a member of the church choir.

Samuel is originally from Guinea in Africa and having attended secondary school there he was granted a scholarship to continue his education in Slovenia. At the age of 19 he went on to study Mechanical Engineering at the university.

After one year he changed his studies to Management Science and graduated with a diploma. He was to spend the next 35 years employed in Slovenia.

He travelled a lot to neighbouring Italy and as a student he worked in Germany where he learned to speak English. He met English-speakers from various parts of Africa in Germany which helped him in a big way in improving his English. His native language in Guinea is Mandinko. Samuel also visited Croatia, Serbia, Australia and Holland.

While in Slovenia he worked in Shipbuilding, Computer Science and Energy Management.

Having retired from employment in 2009 he subsequently came to Ireland in 2010. He was to spend four years in Dublin and moved on to Enniscrone, a small seaside town in Sligo, where his daughter attended secondary school.

He and his daughter also spent six months in Moville, Donegal. They also spent some time in Derry city where his daughter was a third level student.

Samuel attributes his reason for coming to Ireland to a good friend, Fr John Moloney, originally of Abbeyfeale, Limerick, who spent 25 years in Guinea. Ten years after, he decided to look up the priest’s relatives in Abbeyfeale.

They informed him that the he was in London and he immediately made contact with him.

Fr Moloney was pleasantly surprised to hear that he had made it to Ireland and to reside in Valentia Island, not too far from Abbeyfeale.