A brother and sister from Co Galway have been honoured at the Traveller Pride Awards for breaking down barriers and promoting inclusion.
The Traveller Pride Awards took place at the Lighthouse Cinema in Dublin as part of the National Traveller Pride Week initiative.
John and Nadine Cawley from Ballinasloe won the Youth Category (18-25) and Sport category respectively.
Nadine, 14, is being recognised for her achievements as an outstanding footballer for Ballinasloe Football Club Under-15s.
She has been part of the team that travelled to play in competitions abroad.
"I am the only Traveller on the team, there's not many Travellers that play soccer in Ballinasloe.
"We went to Somerset and Amsterdam playing soccer and won the trophy, we went over twice and brought it back with us," she said.
A highly valued member of the team, Nadine has been playing soccer for around seven years and is a huge inspiration to other Traveller children in the area.
"A lot of them probably think they’re not good enough, but I was bad when I started, and I know well how to play it now.
"They should just join in, they’d love it, and they won’t want to stop playing it," she said.
Nadine's excited to receive her award in Dublin and be recognised by others in her community but with ambitions to play professionally, she had her eye on another prize after training earlier this week.
"We've the divisional cup semi-final coming up. I look forward to that and hopefully, we’ll beat them and go on to the final," she said.
Nadine's brother John has been part of Involve Youth Service for the past 15 years, where as a youth participant he progressed to youth leader and took part in an Erasmus Plus multi-cultural training which awarded him his European Youth Pass.
Now in full-time employment, he still helps out with youth sports programmes, plays for Ballinasloe Town Soccer Club and is assistant manager of the Women’s Team.
As someone who started out playing for the Under-10s, he said it feels "really good" to be training a team now.
"It’s something different as well, we’re from the Travelling community and you don’t see many Travellers in this kind of thing at all so it’s a big step.
"I’m 24 now with younger kids looking up to me. They’ll want to do it as well, so it’s good," he said.
Setting an example for younger children, Mr Cawley hopes others from his community will get involved locally with the wider community.
"I think they should just go for it. If they want to do something they shouldn’t let anything hold them back," he said.
While modest about his own award, Mr Cawley is proud of his younger sister’s achievements.
"She’s a good little player but I can’t tell her that because she’ll get too big headed," he joked.
"She’s a great girl. I think she deserves this award too especially as she’s been through a lot at a young age.
"Our father passed away three years ago, she’s only a child and they were close so this will be something good for her," he said.
Mr Cawley was nominated for the award by April Costello, Youth Work Co-ordinator for Involve Galway.
"I nominated John because from a young age he always had a smile, but he was a little bit shy. From where he started and where he is now I've seen such growth and potential.
"He really has worked so hard to get involved in the community, he’s the assistant coach with the Ballinasloe ladies team, he also took part in a huge fundraiser with the soccer club to get a new 4G Astro pitch for the kids," said Ms Costello.
She believes Mr Cawley’s cultural pride has helped him to make inclusion the norm within the community.
"It wasn't always easy for John to break down barriers or to be able to attend some mainstream services because he was a little bit shy.
"Now that he's done it, I know that kids can see him doing that and straightaway they feel like there's an opportunity for them.
"He has been the link between some young people taking part and young people who want to get involved. I think he's a fantastic role model and we’re super proud of him," she said.
The Traveller Pride Awards are coordinated by the National Traveller Pride Steering Committee with eight awards judged in seven categories.
The categories are Education, Enterprise and Innovation Music, Arts or Culture, Sport, Intersectionality, Community Youth (12-18 years) and Community Youth (19-25 years).
The awards are an opportunity to showcase the positive contributions that Travellers make within society and put a spotlight on achievements that generally go unheard of, according to CEO of Involve Youth and Community Service Michael Power.
Mr Power also sits on the Steering Committee and explained that the judges look for people who embody the spirit of the awards and people who are engrossed in and making a difference within their own communities around the country.
"We really put a spotlight on people achieving stuff that wouldn’t be perceived as being the norm within the Traveller community.
"In this instance we have Nadine who’s playing football, not a lot of Traveller girls play football and she has really excelled within that sport and her brother John is really part of the community in Ballinasloe and making a difference in encouraging young women to stay on in sport and be active within the communities," Mr Power said.
Travellers are still facing a huge amount of racism in society, added Mr Power.
"People see the red top articles that feature Travellers in fighting situations and videos online that Traveller organisations and Travellers on the ground are against.
"You’re looking at a small cohort of Travellers involved in this and then people’s opinions are formed about our community by those scenarios," said Mr Power.
He believes these awards are important to showcase the true talent that is within his community.
"It puts an authentic spotlight on the Traveller community and gives the wider community a glimpse into what we really are," Mr Power added.
