Alan Kerins couldn't watch it any more. As a seven-year-old, he looked to his father for mercy, willing him to change the channel, hoping the images could be erased from his mind.
After all, he'd never seen anything like this before, not in Clarinbridge, where wealth may have been a stranger but so was hunger. People had enough to get by. But among the lowlands of northern Ethiopia, millions didn't have that luxury. They were starving to death in front of the world’s eyes and Kerins' father wondered if there was anything he could do.
Six months later the answer came. It was July 1985. Live Aid was on at Wembley the same afternoon that Captain's Day was scheduled for Gort golf club. Kerins senior won the sweepstakes prize, meaning a cheque for £1,800 was coming home with him.
Except he didn't put it in his pocket, giving it all instead to the Live Aid cause.
"And we hadn't a lot of money at the time," his son, Alan, says 30 years on. That was a big deal. That stayed with me."
So did Africa. He'd grow up and grow famous, winner of an All-Ireland with the Galway footballers in 2001, a beaten finalist that same year with the county's hurlers. His career, too, was moving along nicely. Working as a physiotherapist, he had the perfect work-life balance. Or so he thought.
"I was so self-absorbed," he said. "Everything was about me. I'd play a game and if we lost, it was like life or death. But back then I didn't know what life and death really was. I had no idea."
To enlighten himself, he decided to find out. Three months leave from work allowed him travel to Zambia – a mission of self-discovery initially, but one that not only changed his life but saved thousands of others.
"Why Africa? People have always asked me that,” said Kerins. “Why not Asia or Central America? And I guess it comes back to Live Aid, to Dad giving that cheque away, to the distress I felt looking at the children on television.
"I had to do something, I felt. And it was a whole series of chance events that brought me to Zambia, that got me working in a home for disabled children where I met this amazing Irish woman, a nun from Laois, Sister Cathy Crawford, who was in her 60s but who was here in a place called Mongu, running a home while feeding 800 hungry families all on her own, without any help.
Alan Kerins at a charity event with Cork's Michael Shields and Dublin's Dean Rock"I saw their hunger yet saw how Sister Cathy was building houses and wells and dragging two communities up by her hands. She was a typical Irish woman. Nobody had ever heard of her but here she was, doing amazing work, saving thousands of lives – and struggling for money.
"So I was just blown away by her courage and also by the resilience of the Zambians. They had so much hardship and yet they continually had smiles on their faces. They'd dance through their troubles and by doing so their troubles weren't as bad on the back of their attitude."
Nor were Kerins'. He came back in March and set about regaining his place on the Galway team. They made the All-Ireland that year, losing to Cork, but along the journey, their quietly spoken forward learned to treat the twin imposters of victory and defeat just the same.
"I tried to enjoy sport more," he said, "because when you enjoy it, you play way better rather than worrying about the intense pressure you are putting yourself under.
"You can make choices in life. You can worry – and subsequently get depressed or stressed – or you can enjoy things. I suppose, they (the Zambians) taught me a lot. They made me appreciate life a lot more because you come away from there and think about what your real values are, your real priorities.
"I didn't realise how lucky I was to have had the opportunities I had. These kids had the same dreams we had as kids. But I had everything handed to me. I could become anything I wanted whereas these kids didn't have that and that comes to down to pure luck in terms of where you are born.
"But I didn't allow myself get a complex about it. I didn't feel guilty. But I started to feel way more empathetic and compassionate towards people. And it made me wonder, 'well, is there anything I can do to help?' Can I be like that man 30 years ago in Gort golf club? Can I get off my ass and make a difference? Making a difference doesn't have to be that big. You can make a small impact."
That was his plan. He wanted to use his profile to raise €5,000 and build a well. "The difference that makes – it stops children walking 10km for fresh water. It stops disease. It stops death. All for €5,000. I knew I could do that."
By pure chance, Damien Eagers, a photographer with Sportsfile, happened to be in Zambia, visiting an uncle when Kerins visited in the spring of 2005. Knowing each other from All-Star trips, Eagers saw the opportunity to take some pictures and the story kicked off from there, with TV3 following up by commissioning a documentary as Darren Frehill, the reporter, followed Kerins back out to Zambia in 2006. From there, the project grew wings and nine years on, the Alan Kerins Africa Projects has raised €5million for the region.
"Only for those photos from Damien, it may not have happened because a picture speaks a thousand words," he says.
"My only goal was to build a well. Raise five grand. That was it. But since 2005, the whole project has taken off. We have built a school where 1,800 children go to get educated.
"We have a lot of agricultural programmes. We want to teach them how to farm more efficiently, eradicate hunger and we have more wells available for people now.”
Follow your heart & passion - Helping others follow their dream of education, sport, music,life skills employment pic.twitter.com/1co6VzxYuc
— Alan Kerins Projects (@alankerins) July 14, 2015
Kerins targets corporate Ireland, encourages businessmen to travel over there with him on leadership programmes, encourages donors to make the journey too. The physio career has been parked. He's full-time now with his charity.
"Once upon a time, I would have thought that if you lost a match that it is the end of the world. But it is only when you live and breathe death, from hunger, you have a different perspective. You see kids with disabilities that could have been prevented with a simple injection.
"When you witness death, you come back to play sport and realise, this has to be enjoyed. The fear of playing bad has to go. If you have that fear, you will, inevitably, play poorly anyway."
He hopes people will hear his message, particularly the Galway hurlers, who are seemingly forever playing with fear. "Maybe this year will be different," says Kerins.
"The fact is that Galway have such a big forward line – men who can win their own ball, are mobile and take their own scores.
"The Jason Flynns, Joe Cannings, Cathal Mannions, Cyril Donnellans, David Burkes and Johnny Glynns have everything going for them and if they can play in a cohesive way, they will cause any backline trouble.
"Every team can be beaten – even Kilkenny. Okay, they lost to them in the Leinster final but Galway can come back this year, no doubt about that. They can be a match for anybody, but the issue is getting that belief into them.”
Indeed, belief can go a long, long way in many aspects of life.
For Alan Kerins' latest charity project visit www.capstothesummit.com
