Kilmoyley man closes the ledgers to work in Malawi

The piece below appears in today's Kerryman.

Michael Commane
Kilmoyley man Gearóid Loibheád is an accountant, who spent his early years working in Mallow advising people who were availing of the tax amnesty. He felt he could do more with his life and decided to change careers. These days he is working for Concern Worldwide in Malawi. He joined the aid agency in 1997.

“I felt I could put my skills to better use. I went off to Nicaragua for two months to follow my interest in liberation theology. I ended up picking coffee beans there but it was a life changing experience,” Gearóid says.

Last August Gearóid moved to Malawi where he is Concern’s country director. Concern employs 70 people in Malawi, all but seven are Malawians. Indeed, there is another Kerry person on the Concern team in the country, Yvonne Rohan from Tralee, who previously worked with Bank of Ireland in Dublin.

“My son Seán is called after his grandfather Seán Lovett, who was a great Kilmoyley hurler. Dad played both hurling and football. He won an All-Ireland football medal for Kerry in 1959 and he also won a junior All-Ireland hurling medal in 1961.

“My three children have done a Cúl Camp in hurling in Kilmoyley. Sara, 10, Joe is six and Sean is 12. Seán is a great soccer player!
“I met my wife, Mary Magwaza in 1998 while I was working with Concern in Tanzania and we married in 2000.

“She loves Kerry and there is a great connection between Mary and my Mum. At this stage Mary and I are colour-blind,” Gearóid laughs, quickly adding that his wife has never experienced any racial prejudice while in Ireland.

Gearóid has worked in Eritrea and in Kampala where he was Concern’s accountant for the whole of Africa.

“The work is interesting here in Malawi and Concern is making a difference for a large number of people and on a personal note I have to say Concern has afforded me great opportunities.

“We are involved in conservation agriculture, maternal and child health care and in making sure children receive nutrient-rich food. Yields have increased, more maize is being produced and we are now introducing more vegetables, including sweet potatoes. People are eating more nutritious food.

“Last year we directly supported 89,053 people through our programmes.

“We are also protecting girls from sexual violence. They are often forced to marry as young as 12 so we take up their case and are setting up structures to help them.

“Malawi has a population of 15 million and is one and a half times the size of Ireland.

“Irish Aid, the Scottish Government, United Nations and the World Bank and Merck for Mothers US are our main donors here in Malawi and of course the Irish public, who give us amazing support.

“We work in four rural districts and have our main office in the capital Lilongwe, Gearóid explains.
Gearóid’s sister Mrs Aine Crowe is the principal at Kilmoyley National School and his sister Eilín also teaches at the school and the school has made links with Gearóid’s three children in Malawi.

When I ask him what he misses most about Ireland he immediately replies, “My mother of course and attending GAA games but my sister sends me out videos and DVDs. Over the years I have managed to watch matches on Setanta Africa.

“But we are all coming home in July and I’m staying in Banna so I’ll be able to get in a good few games,” he assures me.