RUGBY legend Donncha O’Callaghan has told how he’s never felt prouder than watching Irish humanitarian workers helping Syrian refugees.
The former lock enjoyed a glittering career, winning the Six Nations Grand Slam with Ireland in 2009 while also picking up two Heineken Cup titles and two Magners League titles with Munster.
Donncha, 41, also captained the Lions during a tour of South Africa and featured in three consecutive World Cups.
But in an exclusive interview with the Irish Sun, the bruiser revealed his greatest moment was watching Irish aid workers in action overseas.
‘NEVER BEEN PROUDER’
Big-hearted Donncha has travelled to a number of countries affected by the Syria crisis, including Jordan and Lebanon.
And paying tribute to Irish aid workers helping those in need on the ground, he declared: “I’ll be honest, I’ve never been prouder when I was out there because of the reputation we have built up.
“I was lucky enough to stand for the anthem 94 times but I don’t think I was ever prouder.”
The dad-of-four told how his heart broke as he cradled a sick child on a trip to Jordan with the charity UNICEF.
Little Hehyam was malnourished as Donncha visited an informal tented settlement at the side of the road, close to Jordan’s main refugee camp Zaatari.
UNICEF ambassador Donncha admits his meeting with Hehyam left “a lasting impact” on him — with the young lad the same age as his daughter Anna.
‘THE TRIPS ROCKED ME’
He told us: “The trips rocked me, I’ll be honest with you. They really did. In a totally selfish point of view, they make you massively appreciative for how privileged and lucky we are.
“But the one that always stands out to me is this little boy Hehyam. There was a boy who was malnourished on the Jordan/Syrian border.
“You can see people actually walking over. We got out of the cars and people just came running towards us, they thought we could help.
“This lady offered me her child thinking I was a doctor and I could help them. She handed me the little boy who’s in a pair of tights and a jumper and, I promise you, there was actually more weight to what he was wearing than the child himself.
“At the time, the little boy was the same age as Anna, my little girl, who’s eight years of age. I couldn’t believe it. I’d seen stuff like that in Live Aid videos, or on the news.
“But he was just so small, I still can’t even take it in. That’s actually his reality. It’s so unthinkable that you would think this couldn’t go on but to actually see it first-hand, with his dad lifting up the T-shirt and being able to see every rib.
“You just never forget people’s eyes, the despair in his mum’s eyes, just looking for help.”
The former rugby star made sure Hehyam got the nutritional support he needed, with UNICEF including the family in its outreach work.
CHILDREN IN NEED
Donncha said: “When you’re a parent, you do anything for your kids. But I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life, the way that lady was looking at me and not being able to help.
“She thought I was a doctor and thankfully UNICEF were there and within 24 hours that boy was given all the care he could get.
“And that was good. But what I saw were these kinds of temporary settlements, just mushrooming up out of nowhere because people are just getting anywhere to get over.”
Ten years of war in Syria has devastated the country, claiming hundreds of thousands of lives and uprooting millions more. Children aged ten and under have never known peace, with six million children born in war.
UNICEF say there are 7.5million children in need in this crisis. Inside Syria, nearly five million need humanitarian assistance. Some 2.6million internally displaced children have been forced to leave their homes, some several times.
Another 2.5million children fled across Syria’s borders into neighbouring countries over the ten years and now live as refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. Surrounding countries host 80 per cent of the refugees.
Opening up about his trips to Lebanon and Jordan, Donncha admitted he was left reeling by the basic needs in the informal settlements.
He recalled: “The settlements are very basic. The ones I was in, there were no toilet facilities, there were just holes in the ground, and people were just walking into waste the whole time.
‘BASIC’ SETTLEMENTS
“There was dirty drinking water. And I remember, it’s very like a rugby team, it follows seniority, so there’s an elder for each camp that would speak on their behalf.
“One of them showed me this filthy water they were drinking and because they were drinking that, they said they knew they were going to get sick. But he said, ‘we need water, we need water now so we’re living for the day’.
“I remember just getting such a shock, they know this isn’t good for them but right now they’re thirsty and they needed water.
“They’re just after coming out of unbelievable winter conditions where it freezes over and it snows out there and all they are in is a piece of plastic.
“I think any parent at home in Ireland at the moment understands we’re lucky. We have nice houses but these people are trying to get by with their families in very makeshift conditions.
“And the frustration comes when you chat to them, and you realise how good their lives were in Syria. They’re all engineers, there’s doctors, you are chatting to people with middle income, good jobs.
“The first year, I saw people bringing everything as they left Syria but, 18 months later, you could see people coming across with just the clothes on their back because the sad thing is they knew that they were never going back.”
STAFF ‘SO DEDICATED’
Emotional Donncha revealed how some kids who fled to a refugee camp in Zaatari in Jordan didn’t know what stairs were.
And the Munster icon also hailed the Irish aid workers helping those in need. He said: “The staff on the ground are so dedicated. They include Ettie Higgins from Cork.
“I can’t believe her job, I really couldn’t believe her job. At the time, she was bringing supplies — medical and water and food and different things — in over the border into Syria.
“So going to work every day with a bulletproof vest and really just taking her life in her hands every day to look out for children.”
Reflecting on his time in the field helping Syrian refugees, Donncha lifted the lid on “a breathtaking moment” in a makeshift camp in Jordan, describing it as one of his proudest experiences.
He said: “I’ll be honest, I’ve never been prouder than when I was out there because of the reputation we have built up.
HOW TO HELP
CRUSADING UNICEF ambassador Donncha O’Callaghan has issued an impassioned appeal for donations to help Syrian refugees.
With the tenth anniversary of the war in Syria this month, the former rugby ace stressed it remains one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises.
Donncha told us: “Donations are brilliant because you see first-hand the impact they have.
“I can only imagine the mayhem something like that (Coronavirus) on top of the already deplorable conditions.”
With €35 you can provide a child with a life-saving survival kit containing emergency food and clean water.
- Please go to unicef.ie to support a child in danger today.
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“And as soon as we got out of the cars, it felt like kick off at a rugby match — these men started charging and I actually thought it was gonna get confrontational.
“Straight away they heard we were Irish and straight away they softened. I have never seen anything like it. It is the fact our peacekeepers have so much respect, they have left such a legacy of being good.
“And I remember talking to one of the UNICEF staff, and they were like, ‘you are viewed differently because they know Irish people will help’. And I just have never been so proud.”