Newry woman has just the ticket for a winning summer
Newry woman, Joanne Smyth is calling on her home city to lend its support to the Concern Worldwide Northern Ireland summer raffle. The local woman has pledged her support to the aid agency’s annual raffle by sharing her experiences of working as a humanitarian worker in poverty stricken countries. Concern Worldwide first began working in Rwanda in 1994, providing aid and relief. Eighteen years on and the charity continues to work in four sectors: livelihoods, agriculture, primary education, nutrition and health, livelihoods and AIDS. The local woman joined the international development charity in 2006 and is now Assistant County Director in Rwanda, which is slowly rebuilding itself after the Genocide in 1994. Joanne also spent two years in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where she was inspired by the courage and resilience of women displaced by conflict, many of whom have been victims of sexual violence. During a recent trip back home to the city, Joanne spoke to Newry Times and said, “The most interesting and rewarding part of my job is talking to people in the communities where Concern works, understanding their challenges and priorities and listening to them describe their hopes and vision for the future and seeing how Concern can help them to achieve this. When I was asked to support the Concern Northern Ireland summer raffle by sharing my experiences of Rwanda, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Concern works with some of the world’s poorest people who have experienced a degree of hardship and suffering in their day-to-day life that is hard for many of us living in Northern Ireland to imagine.”
Joanne Smyth shares a meal with Epiphanie Mukamusoni and her daughter who are beneficiaries of a Concern livelihoods programme

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