KarunaNews Story

An Irishman has celebrated turning 90 by completing a 165km (about 102 mile) walk across Ireland in memory of those forced to flee the country during the Great Famine. Jim Callery completed the National Famine Way walk, which runs from Strokestown in Co. Roscommon to Dublin, on his 90th birthday. He raised an impressive €57k (about $62,000) for immigration charities along the way. "I'm delighted with how the fundraising walk on the NFW went,” he said after completing his mammoth challenge. Callery, who is the founder of the National Famine Museum at Strokestown Park, finished his walk at EPIC, the Emigration Museum in Dublin. The walk was done in honor of Strokestown's Missing 1,490 Famine emigrants, who were forced to leave the Roscommon town at the height of An Gorta Mór – or The Great Hunger – in 1847.