Fegan Transport Joins Effort to Bring Relief to Flood Victims

Theo and his wife (extreme left) are pictured here with family and other Timorese community members, along with Martin Fegan, (fourth from left) and staff from the ABP Food Group in Craigavon .

FEGAN TRANSPORT JOINS EFFORT TO BRING RELIEF TO FLOOD VICTIMS IN EAST TIMOR

County Down based haulage company Fegan Transport has played a vital role in getting much needed aid to help flood victims in East Timor where scores of people lost their lives and homes earlier this year.

They footed the bill to transport a large container packed with donated goods from Craigavon to Belfast Port where it began its long journey to East Timor. “It was the least we could do, on learning about the plight of the people there,” says the company’s Ann-Marie Fegan. It’s estimated that several thousand East Timorese people live in and around the Craigavon and Dungannon area, among them Theo Cardoso who is a long standing customer of Fegan Transport. “We have been working with Theo for many years now in our transport business, so when he told us of the floods in his homeland and his plans to send an aid container out to East Timor, we did our bit to help out,” says Ann-Marie. The 40 foot container was filled with medical supplies, toiletries, clothes, bedding, wheelchairs, toys and books for the children, all of which had been collected by several charitable organisations, recruitment agencies and individuals, including the Vincent de Paul Society, after Theo highlighted the situation back in his native country. Many of the Timorese living here work for food processing and manufacturing companies who also helped in the effort. “Theo is a strong character who has been in Northern Ireland for almost 20 years; he now works as an interpreter. He does a lot to help members of the Timorese community here and has very strong connections back home,” says Ann-Marie. Theo says most of the East Timorese here have families living in the capital of Dili, where the flooding took place, and he is grateful for the support he has got in his efforts to help them. On his Facebook page, posting as ‘Theo Lurgan,’ he writes: “Thank you to all our local Irish friends for all the support. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Fegan Transport family for their generosity.” Leaving Belfast Port, the container was shipped to Liverpool, then on to Rotterdam, Singapore and Malaysia. “We were happy to help, but we were just a small part of a much bigger operation,” says Ann-Marie.