Employee charity experiences - Angela O'Neill

“I oversee and support the programmes that Concern runs in these countries. It’s up to me to make sure we have good programmes in place, programmes that meet the needs of the people,” Angela explains.

Angela’s first position with Concern was working in a refugee camp, accommodating 200,000 people, on the Thai/Cambodian border in the early 1990s.

New experiences

“I had been an environmental health officer with the health board in Ireland so the jump from that to managing a camp with so many people was a shock to the system. We had a staff of 200 and most of them were local people. There were just two other Irish people on the team.

Managing most things

“We managed water supply for the entire camp. We looked after public health and sanitation. We even had a fire service. We were the ‘local authority’ and ‘health board’ all rolled into one, working under UN co-ordination.”

Making an impact

The camp was closed in 1993. “It was a phenomenally positive experience. It’s seldom do you see such a success,” Angela explains.

Concern was in Cambodia at the time and played a significant role in the repatriation of those who had been living in the refugee camps for over 12 years. Angela worked there for three of these years.

On her return home, Angela did a Masters in Equality Studies at UCD.
“The mix of that year and what I had seen in the field helped me understand why the world is such an unequal place.

Concern's charity work

Angela has no doubt about the importance of the work that Concern is doing. She is convinced that without charities nobody would be talking about inequality in the world. “All Concern’s programmes are geared at ensuring that poor people have their basic human rights met,” she stresses.