Our Patron John Hume
John Hume has been a supporter and patron of Plan Ireland since it was established in 2003.
Renowned for the work he has carried out in Northern Ireland, John Hume is one of the most influential people in the modern political history of Ireland and Northern Ireland's peace process.
Pictured above at the Plan Ireland Ball: John Hume with his wife Pat, Jane Clare, former Chairperson of Plan Ireland, Tony O'Donoghue, RTE and David Dalton, CEO of Plan Ireland
John Hume became a leading figure in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland in the late sixties. From the Parliament of Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Westminster Parliament and European Parliament to secret talks with Sinn Fein and the British Government which resulted in the Anglo-Irish agreement, Hume was also heavily involved with the Belfast agreement and Hume-Adams agreement resulting in the IRA ceasefire and Good Friday agreement.
"Over the years, the barriers of the past—the distrust and prejudices of the past—will be eroded, and a new society will evolve, a new Ireland based on agreement and respect for difference."
- John Hume
Above: John Hume on RTE's Late Late Show singing 'Oh Danny Boy' and speaking about Plan Ireland
Hume was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in December 1998. This was undeniably due to his incessant hard work for peace, tolerance and international co-operation. Just one month later he received the Martin Luther King Award and in 2001 he became the only person in history to be awarded all three of the top peace awards when he received the International Gandhi Peace Prize.
In 2010, Hume was awarded 'Irelands Greatest' in a public poll by RTÉ when the people of Ireland voted to choose the greatest person in the history of Ireland. Michael Collins, Mary Robinson, James Connolly, Bono and Theobald Wolfe Tone where among those nominated.
In the words of former U.S. President Clinton, John Hume remains,
"Ireland's most tireless champion for civil rights and its most eloquent spokesman for peace."
A Life Less Ordinary
By any standards John Hume and his wife Pat have led extraordinary lives.
“Pat and I have both always believed in providing assistance to those in need, especially children” says John, “and when our own children were all grown up and self sufficient we decided to look around for some way that we could help children in the wider family of mankind”.
Through Plan Ireland, they sponsor a little boy in El Salvador called Juan.
Pictured above: Juan at home in El Salvador
“There are lots of organisations out there working to better the lives of people in the developing world but in the end we decided to support Plan Ireland because of the direct impact its work has on the lives of children and communities in developing countries”.
The Humes liked Plan Ireland’s child-centred community development (CCCD) approach, which is to help communities to develop the infrastructure and skills they need to provide a safe and healthy learning environment in which children can realise their full potential.
“As teachers, both of us place great value on education, so we particularly like Plan's focus on the education of children as central to the development of communities” says John.
"We find it very rewarding, we get regular updates on Juan's progress and it is good to have that personal connection."
John and Pat say that they would recommend child sponsorship as a means of getting personally involved in development work. “The money is spent on projects that benefit the wider community and not just the sponsored children so we have no hesitation in recommending people to consider sponsoring a child through Plan Ireland”.
