Aoife Kelly, the 2008 Rose of Tralee has arrived in Dubai.
Aoife is an occupational therapist at the National Rehabilitation Hospital of Ireland where she has experience working in the brain injury service, and now works in the spinal injury service. She has a passion for travel, spending working summers in America and has travelled in South Africa to do voluntary work with children suffering from HIV. The 24-year-old also enjoys making cards, painting and anything creative. She played Gaelic football for her university in Aberdeen and also in San Francisco. In the future she hopes to work as a senior occupational therapist and a reflexologist, and return to volunteer in the South African townships. Since becoming the 2008 Rose of Tralee her life has taken a totally new direction. She has a wonderful family, fiancé and friends, but becoming the Rose of Tralee has added an extra dimension: pride to your family and community; excitement and awe to the children you meet; the opportunity to share experiences with young and old; and travelling the world as an ambassador for both the Festival and the Irish people.
So far during her year she has attended charity fundraisers for many worthy causes, lobbied with BRI for increased brain injury services in the community, helped open a variety of businesses, celebrated achievements, attended the Taoiseach’s annual ball, presented the Paddy Power Gold Cup in Cheltenham, met Irish soccer team manager Giovanni Trapattoni, Irish rugby team manager Declan Kidney, turned on Christmas tree lights, attended the All-Ireland ladies Gaelic football final, visited many wedding and engagement fairs, and been part of a host of media events. It has been a rollercoaster and no two days are the same. It’s wonderful that the life of the Rose of Tralee is ever changing and a new dimension of the experience is seen every day.
In the first part of 2009 she attended several charity balls, and in March she went to Kenya with Volunteer Services Overseas who are responsible for life changing work in some of the poorest countries worldwide. On her return she will be attending as many Rose of Tralee Selections as possible, with her first International one being in Dubai, followed by more county Selections in Ireland prior to going to New Zealand and Australia. She will also be running the Women’s Mini Marathon for the Chernobyl Children’s Project at the beginning of June after the Irish Regional Final in Portlaoise. There are many, many other events in addition to these, details and photos of which will appear on the ‘Aoife’s Diary’ page on the Festival website (www.roseoftralee.ie).
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