At the moment many Castlebar families are taking part in a project called Operation Christmas Child or The Shoe Box appeal. It's a simple idea that brings much joy to many children in areas of poverty around the world. The idea is to take a shoebox fill it with appropriate toys, drop it off to a collection point with Eur 3 (to cover carriage).


The organiser for the Castlebar area is Ms Marie O'Donovan, she can be contacted at O'Donovan’s Spar, Westport Road, Castlebar. Phone 094 90 22574. Last year we collected over 6,000 boxes, this year the target is 10,000.

Further information about the project can be see on www.samaritanspurse.ie

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I travelled Croatia last December, where I was privileged to be part of the team distributing the gifts to children who live in orphanages and refugee centres. I have included a short account of my visit with some photographs below

I appreciate that you are probably bombarded with requests like mine. The good thing about this project is that it only runs for a few weeks every year, as all boxes must be dropped off by November 9th.

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards

Jayne Langan, Westport.
098 27211

An apartment block in Vukovar, croatia which is still lived in.

Operation Christmas Child - Vukovar 2003

In December 2003 I travelled as part of a team bringing Christmas presents to children in Vukovar, Croatia. I have to admit that before my trip I was puzzled as to why the people of Croatia needed aid. After all it was over 10 years since the war ended there and I know that tourism had resumed to Dubrovnik (in the south),

On arrival to Zagreb I was struck by the modern and seemingly affluent city. I was beginning to think that this was going to be easy.... As our van travelled further north and eastwards things changed rapidly.

It was still daylight as we drove into Vukovar, and immediate impressions would leave you to believe that the war was still ongoing. Bullet holes, ruined houses and bomb craters were visible in just about every building. It really didn’t take much imagination to think what it must have been like to live here during the fighting. I was frightened just thinking about it.

Vukovar, known to Croats as the "City of Heroes", was one of the most comprehensively destroyed towns during the wars of the former Yugoslavia. The city became a symbol of struggle against the Yugoslav army and rebel Serbs, who had captured much of the surrounding region after Croatia declared independence in 1991. For 3 months the people of Vukovar held off their attackers, who bombarded them day & night with gunfire & shells. All roads into the city were cut off, which meant food & supplies were very scarce.

The Yugoslav army promised safe passage out of the town for the starving women & children. They lied. Snipers picked off anyone who tried to escape from Vukovar, with no mercy shown, regardless of age or sex.

In October 1991 the town fell to the invaders. Six Yugoslav army buses pulled up at the main gate of the hospital. Almost 200 men - selected it seems at random - were ordered at gunpoint to get on board. They were taken to a clearing in a wood near a pig farm, a couple of miles outside the town and ordered to stand beside an open pit. They were machine-gunned to death. .

Hundreds of other men women & children, simply vanished during the occupation. Many mass graves have been discovered in the area, one more was found while I was there. It takes many months for the results of the DNA testing to "hopefully" identify the remains. The horror of Vukovar remains in the minds of many Croats and not just war veterans. Some will hope to recognise their children in one of the mass graves. Some hope to forget everything.

It will take a long time and unthinkable amounts of money to repair Vukovar (physically at least) to its former glory. Though the memories and scars borne by the people of Vukovar must be torturous, I was deeply touched by their forgiveness & generosity. They are doing everything they can to get back on their feet. Every green patch had a cabbage or onion growing in it.

The one thing the people of Vukovar asked of us was not to forget them. The newspapers & TV channels have moved off to new wars and new victims of war. Thirteen years later, these people still need our help.

I wish you could experience the joy and privilege of being with a child when they open their box. It’s seems such a little thing, but the smiles on the faces of the children say it all.

Anna and Yullia who received gifts at the distribution in Vukovar Orphanage in Dec 2003