A Good Friday walk down memory lane for former scouts

Former Monkstown Sea Scouts leader Jerry Aherne will spearhead a fundraising walk for the Edith Wilkins Street Children Foundation, India (EWSCF) on Good Friday.

The walk originated in the early 1980’s and was a significant event in the Monkstown Sea Scouts’ social calendar until their disbandment in 2004.

On Good Friday in 2015, Jerry set off to complete the 16 mile walk for his own leisure where he bumped into two of his former scouts partaking in the walk with their own children.

“We decided that we would do it [the walk] thenceforth every Good Friday.

“This year some of the children of the old Sea Scouts will be doing the walk for the eighth time,” Jerry Aherne said.

The 16-mile walk starts at 9:45am at Belvelly Castle, to East Ferry Marina, through Marlogue Wood and along the seashore to Cuskinny into Cobh and out along the walkway to the Carrigaloe cross-river ferry terminal at about 4pm.

Jerry is aiming to raise €500 for the EWSCF.

I'm going to get my family and my friends here to sponsor me for a couple of Euro and I will be raising €500.

That's what I'm aiming for, so I hope I can reach the €500 goal,” Jerry said.

The EWSCF provides support for children in India who run the risk of trafficking, child labour and other forms of abuse.

Cork native Edith Wilkins moved to India in 1982 to provide support for impoverished children. The qualified nurse intended to stay in India for a couple of years but ended up staying in the country for 28 years.

Edith set up the EWSCF in 2003 and has run the Non-Profit Organisation since.

The EWSCF provides shelter and counselling in the hopes to motivate the children to return to education.

Edith has noticed a spike in the trafficking of girls since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We're getting a huge amount of badly trafficked girls since COVID happened in India, and we badly need money to run the homes.

“It's proven very hard to kind of get them back to school. It always happens when you have a disaster and child trafficking and everything just goes sky high.

“We're getting a large number of kids and so we really, really need funding to support the children at the homes because we have counselling and a rehabilitation programme for the children,” Edith stressed.

Donate at edithwilkinsfoundation.enthuse.com or click here.