Fr Kevin Doheny CSSp who died on July 1st, describes in his memoirs, No Hands But Yours, a stop-off in Sierra Leone on his way to his first mission posting, thus: "In Freetown docks, we were berthed beside another ship full of local people, men, women and children packed together like sardines on the open deck.
"My interest was acutely aroused at their great poverty, as I watched them being herded on the decks like animals, with no privacy, no space for anything but bodies. I realised that this was Africa."
Certainly, that scene in Freetown in November 1954 made a deep impression for he was to devote the next 46 years of his life to the poor and the oppressed, especially refugees, the people he once described as "the wretched of the earth".
Fr Kevin Doheny was born of farming stock at Ballinalacken, Ballinakill, Co Laois on May 3rd, 1925. His father, Michael, died when he was only eight months old. His mother was left to bring up a large family and although they tasted poverty early in life, he claimed it was a great blessing as it kept the family united. He and his older brother Michael (who died in April 1992), were educated at Blackrock College and both joined the Holy Ghost congregation. Michael was 10 years older and was a powerful influence on his brother throughout his life. Fr Kevin Doheny was ordained a priest in 1953 at Clonliffe College - by Archbishop John Charles McQuaid, also a Holy Ghost man.
After ordination he was appointed to the diocese of Owerri in Nigeria. The Doheny family was remarkable in that five siblings chose the religious life: his brothers, Tom and Des, joined the Marist congregation and his sister, Maura, the Sisters of the Assumption.
Life among the Ibo people of Owerri was pleasant. He loved the boys in his school and he found the response of the people to the Gospel message both stimulating and fulfilling. But this fruitful apostolate was shattered when the Biafran war erupted in 1967.
In the course of the war Nigerian federal forces gradually isolated Biafra and left it landlocked. The sight of children dying all around him fired Kevin Doheny's passion so that he spoke out to the media without reserve or temperance. It was enough to make him a marked man, and to ensure his expulsion, together with many of his Holy Ghost colleagues, when the victorious Nigerians eventually marched in.
But in the time they were in Biafra they managed to organise one of the most extraordinary humanitarian operations of this century, with no resources other than the support of a small but committed group of fundraisers in Dublin - an airlift of food and medicines comparable in scale and efficiency to the Berlin airlift of 1945.
Kevin Doheny's particular contribution during the Biafran emergency was to look after orphans, a task which he discharged very well. He evacuated several hundred to safety in the Ivory Coast. It was during that time that he met Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, when the latter was a secret peace envoy for the British Foreign Office. He formed a lifelong friendship with Cheshire and his wife, Sue Ryder - and in later years established many Cheshire Homes in East Africa. He worked closely with Cheshire also, in his attempts to broker a peace settlement between Biafran and federal government leaders, Colonel Ojukwu and General Gowan, respectively.
It was the humanitarian operation in Biafra which led to the formation of Africa Concern and subsequently to Concern worldwide. Kevin Doheny's brother, Michael, was more closely involved with the foundation of Concern as an organisation but he also, by his work in the field, contributed to its build-up.
After his expulsion from Nigeria he went on to work in Ethiopia. In 1972-73 that country was ravaged by a famine in which 200,000 people died. Kevin Doheny took the initiative in bringing all 20 churches in the country together to mobilise resources to help the victims: on May 14th, 1973 the Christian Relief and Development Association (CRDA) was formed. It was a significant ecumenical achievement and played a key role in the 1984 famine relief effort. It was in Ethiopia that he met Mother Theresa who became another great influence.
One other significant achievement is worthy of mention, the establishment of the Refugee Council in 1988 and Refugee Trust - for refugees coming to Ireland and refugees abroad, respectively. He gave a great deal of his energy to the cause of refugees worldwide and doubtless was saddened to see their numbers continually growing.
In the course of a long life Kevin Doheny walked with popes and princes but was never fazed by authority. He had a remarkable capacity to access the most powerful people and persuade them to take action on behalf of the poor. He campaigned against injustice in the capitals of the world from Washington to Downing Street. He and his brother, Michael, were celebrated on This is Your Life in 1984. That programme resulted in massive publicity for the work of Concern.
Among his many celebrity friends was the author Frederick Forsyth. They met when the latter was a journalist reporting the war in Biafra. In a foreword to the Doheny memoirs, published in 1997, Forsyth wrote: "When he has passed from among us there may well be no great statue, as for a king or conqueror. But there will be many in the developing world still alive, who would else be dead but for this son of Ireland and his tireless quest to serve his God."
Fr Kevin Doheny: born 1925; died, July 2000