Brian O'Callaghan is making a personal pilgrimage to the Shrine of St James in Santiago. Brian is 68 and sadly lost his wife, Alice, a year and a half ago. He is walking the whole 1600 mile land route, through Ireland from Rostrevor to Rosslare and from Cherbourg, over the Pyrenees to Santiago. He sends regular updates of his progress and reflects on his life and experiences as he goes. These are available on-line from this page as are links to albums of his photographs which are updated from time to time.

While Brian is making the pilgrimage as the fulfillment of a long-held dream, he is conscious of the millions of people in the Continent of Africa, particularly women, who are daily confronted with the task of having to walk many miles in search of water and fuel. For them, walking is a necessity of life, both for themselves and for their families. They do not have the luxury of choice - they walk or they and their families perish.

Brian wants to bring their plight to peoples attention, and to help make a difference. While the developed world squabbles about the availability of consumer products and fashion accessories, millions teeter on the brink of starvation and worse. We all need to do what we can to help. That is why Brian is asking you to make a contribution to the task of making their lives a little easier. He has teamed up with the international charity, Concern, which has the capacity, and the infrastructure, to channel resources to the most needy.

If you would like to make a contribution you can send it direct to Concern, at the Northern Ireland address listed, quoting "Brian O'Callaghan's Santiago Pilgrimage - Card Number 0455" (which is the one I hold), or directly to me -

- email me at pdevlinz@btinternet.com for my address.

If you do make a direct contribution I would be grateful if you let me know at the above email address.