Midlands fundraiser for Self Help Africa is launched in Tullamore

A Midlands mart will become the beating heart of an extraordinary act of compassion and solidarity this Autumn, as farmers from across the region are being asked to come together in support of vulnerable farming families across Africa.

“A Midlands Fundraiser for Self Help Africa” is an ambitious farmer-to-farmer charity appeal aiming to raise tens of thousands of euro for livestock and rural development programmes supporting struggling communities throughout Africa.

At the centre of the initiative is a simple but deeply powerful request: “Will you sell ONE animal so another family can survive?”

Across the Midlands and throughout rural Ireland, farmers understand hardship in a way few others can. They understand the heartbreak of failed crops, relentless rain, drought, rising costs, uncertainty and sleepless nights wondering how another season will be survived. They know what it means to depend on the land, to hope for better days, and to keep going when life feels overwhelmingly difficult. That understanding of struggle and resilience is now inspiring local farmers to stand in solidarity with small-scale farming families in Africa who are facing unimaginable hardship caused by hunger, drought, floods, conflict, displacement and growing food insecurity.

Offaly livestock farmer Pat Mahon, from Blue Ball near Tullamore, is the founder and driving force behind the campaign. Pat is appealing to farmers across the Midlands and beyond to donate a male or female calf or any suitable young animal over three months old for auction at a special fundraising sale in aid of Self Help Africa at Tullamore Mart on Monday, September 28. The organisers say the support already shown by Tullamore Mart and the wider farming community has been extraordinary, compassionate and deeply humbling.

For Pat Mahon, this appeal is personal and heartfelt. After spending 40 years working across the Midlands with the old P&T, Telecom Éireann, Eircom and later Eir, and another eight years helping local communities through the Rural Social Scheme, Tidy Towns groups and voluntary organisations, Pat returned to farming following his retirement. Now he is travelling once more through the farms, roads and communities he spent a lifetime serving, but this time carrying a different message.

“I have dealt with farmers all my life and I know the goodness that is in them,” says Pat. “Irish farmers understand struggle and survival. They understand the value and importance of livestock, and they understand what it means when a family’s livelihood depends on a few animals and a small piece of land.” “When people see how one donated animal here can help transform the life of a struggling farming family in Africa, I believe they will help. Farmers believe in giving a hand up, not a hand out, and that is exactly what Self Help Africa does.”

Pat says that some farmers have already committed to donating calves and livestock to the fundraiser, but over the coming months he hopes many more farmers, marts, agricultural businesses, organisations, companies, schools, sports clubs and rural organisations will rally behind the appeal. “The response so far has been incredibly heartening,” he says. “There is great kindness in rural Ireland. Farmers know what it means when neighbours help neighbours in difficult times. This fundraiser is about one farming community reaching out to another.”

Pat says the campaign was inspired by the humanitarian work and writings of Ronan Scully, who has spent almost four decades working with vulnerable communities across Africa. Through his work supporting Self Help Africa, Ronan has walked through drought-stricken communities in Ethiopia, flood-ravaged villages in Malawi, refugee settlements in Zambia, Angola and Uganda, and camps for displaced families in Northern Ethiopia.

He has witnessed mothers going hungry for days so their children might eat a little food, children walking miles under extreme heat searching for water, livestock dying during devastating droughts, families losing everything overnight in floods, women carrying the crushing burden of fear, hunger and survival. “These are not stories from another century,” says Pat quietly. “These things are happening right now!”

Ronan Scully of Self Help Africa says the fundraiser has the power to genuinely change lives. “I have walked roads where the earth had split open from drought,” he says. “I have stood with families who had lost their crops, their animals and their homes. I have held the hands of children weakened by hunger. But I have also seen extraordinary resilience and courage.”

Across Africa, Self Help Africa works alongside farming families and rural communities providing seeds, tools, water projects, climate-smart agriculture, livestock supports, women-led enterprise programmes, education initiatives and small business opportunities that empower people to feed their families and build sustainable futures with dignity and independence.

At the centre of this work are women farmers, mothers, grandmothers, daughters and sisters, whose resilience often keeps entire families and communities alive during times of crisis. In this year celebrating “The International Year of the Woman Farmer,” organisers say the fundraiser is also a tribute to the courage, sacrifice and determination of women in agriculture everywhere.

Pat Mahon believes Irish farming communities can make a profound difference. “We cannot solve every problem in the world,” he says. “But we can choose not to ignore suffering. We can choose compassion. One animal from one farm in Ireland may seem small to us, but somewhere in Africa it could become the reason a child eats, a family survives or a mother has hope again.”

FUNDRAISER DETAILS

“A Midlands Fundraiser for Self Help Africa” - Proudly Supported by Tullamore Mart

Farmers are invited to donate one animal (minimum three months old — male or female) in aid of Self Help Africa. Animals can be collected or brought directly to the mart. All proceeds from the sale will go directly to Self Help Africa and its livestock and rural development programmes across Africa.

Fundraising Sale Date: Monday, September 28

To donate an animal or learn more, contact: Pat Mahon: 083 423 8887, Email: patjoemahon@outlook.com; or Ronan Scully: 087 618 9094 Email: ronan.scully@selfhelpafrica.org,