Jinja, Uganda, Africa, WPH Press, 12/9/2025
Race 4 Eight #1 Martin Mulkerrins and fiancé Eilish Owens traveled to Uganda, Africa in late November, just days after Martin contested the 2025 Race 4 Eight Memorial final. Martin and Eilish had traveled to Northwest Uganda in 2017, building the first 1-Wall courts in the region, with the help of Br. Tony Dolan (RIP), as part of a voluntary project at Adraa Agriculture College. This time around, Martin and Eilish joined thirty GAA athletes in Uganda for the ‘Warriors for Humainty Plant the Planet Games’. The overarching goal of this project is for the group to raise $450,000-500,000 for Self Help Africa, a registered 501(c)(3), to plant one million trees to support sustainable livelihoods.
“Irish GAA players partaking in the Plant the Planet Games were tasked with raising at least $12,000 each for Self Help Africa to plant one million trees to support sustainable livelihoods,” stated Martin regarding his recent trip. “We had the amazing opportunity to plant different types of trees, including fruit bearing trees, with the local people in the area and even along the banks of the river Nile”.
Martin and Eilish were the first GAA handball players to make the trip to Jinja, Uganda as part of the ‘Warriors for Humanity Plant the Planet Games,’ as for the first three years of the program, GAA athletes from Hurling, Gaelic Football, and Camogie had made the trip. “We were delighted and very thankful of the support we received from Alan Kerins and Self Help Africa to utilize the funds we raised to build a Handball court in an elementary school and support the program for the coming year,” stated Mulkerrins. “To have a beautiful, purpose-built facility to play on makes a huge difference in promoting the sport. We would like to thank everyone who donated to our fundraising efforts. There are still some donations coming in and we expect to have raised in the region of $30,000 total.”
The handball court construction was completed several days before Martin and Eilish’s arrival, allowing Martin and Eilish to meet and mentor the children and coaches, when not planting trees. “We used our time there to introduce children to the sport but also to spend time with the coaches who will be there to deliver the program,” stated Martin. “The Irish ambassador to Uganda, Mags Gaynor came to visit the court and we had an official opening with Br. Colm O’Connell, an Irish missionary in Kenya for the past 50 years. The athletics program he has built there has won 9 Olympic Gold medals, 23 Olympic medals in total and 45 World Championship titles. The coach from Jinja will be meeting with the coach at Adraa in the coming weeks and we hope that both programs will develop together over the coming years.”
Thank to you Martin and Eilish for their commitment to building communities and providing opportunities for young people to enjoy a physically active lifestyle through handball across the world.
If anyone would like to learn more about the project or would like to find out more about going there to visit/volunteer and help teach the sport, please reach out to Martin Mulkerrins at: mmulkerrins@tamu.edu
Make a donation towards the project HERE
Irish GAA stars launch Uganda’s first handball alley and kickstart planting of one million trees, from the Irish Examiner HERE
All information provided by Martin Mulkerrins
Photos courtesy of Eilish Owens and Ben Walsh
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer