With today being Ash Wednesday, the fasting period of the Catholic year begins with the first day of Lent.

In the first of a three-part series, Moncrieff reporter Henry McKean travelled last week to Ethiopia in eastern Africa to capture firsthand some of the challenging work Trócaire does.

This week’s report sees Henry meeting the girl on this year’s Trócaire box, a long-standing campaign run by the Irish charity in the lead up to Easter every year.

Mahlet Ali is 13 and is the top of her class in school. Trócaire is helping Mahlet and her family by building an irrigation system making it easier to farm with less and less rain. You can see some photos of Mahlet, her family and Henry below.

To hear Henry’s report, tune in to Moncrieff at 2.20pm: http://www.newstalk.com/player/

[Luke Benson]