Rob Kearney tells IAN O'RIORDANhow a recent trip to Ethiopia with Concern helped put his six-month lay-off with a knee injury in perspective

THE IDEA was to see how the other half live, or more like survive, while at the same time give himself a break from the painfully mundane process of rehabilitation.

He got that, and a whole lot more, and while the rugby season may be taking its well-earned hiatus, no one is more enthused to get back on the field right now than Rob Kearney.

A full six months after the knee injury which ended his season before it ever got going, Kearney is fit, ready and desperate to play again – and would go to the ends of the earth to find a game. He may actually end up doing that – with the IRFU still looking to get him some games in the Southern Hemisphere in July – but in the meantime his long break has given him a whole new appreciation of rugby, and indeed life.

It’s not just that Kearney endured an “incredibly tough journey” in getting over the injury, he also got to spend a week in Ethiopia as part of his role as a sporting ambassador with Concern. In fact, he couldn’t have been any more removed from the life of a professional rugby player. No one he met in Ethiopia knew anything about rugby, let alone the exploits of the Irish and Leinster full back.

“No, they’d no idea,” he says. “Rugby is a completely foreign sport to them. But then some places we went they’d never seen a watch before. And yet they knew all about Messi and Ronaldo and Rooney, which I thought was fairly extraordinary.”

Kearney has had plenty of time to think over the last six months, ever since injuring his left knee playing against New Zealand back in November. It took a while to fully diagnose the problem, but cartilage and ligament damage (“not the cruciate, but as serious, if not more serious, than the cruciate”) forced him to watch the entire Six Nations from the stands, and more recently Leinster’s sensational Heineken Cup triumph.

So when Concern offered him the chance to visit Ethiopia in March, to see for himself the various aid programmes they run out there, the 25-year-old jumped at it – realising the timing in every sense was ideal.

“I might never have got the opportunity if I hadn’t been injured. To be honest there was a selfish part of me, and I thought going out there would help me deal with the injury, by realising that there are bigger issues out there, and being able to see the work Concern do. People who’d gone over there before all recommended it, as a really humbling experience, to put things in perspective.

“It’s been an incredibly tough journey to get over the injury, but I know it’s something nearly every player has to deal with. But the trip helped because you need different things to look forward to.

“My whole life over the last six months was almost on hold, in that everything I did on a daily basis was about getting back on the field. Going to Ethiopia broke that up. I had just done two months of really tough rehab, so to get a week away over there, and to get completely removed from rugby, was a big help.”

While that was the motivation, Kearney still never anticipated the profound effect the trip would have. Nearly everyone who visits the poorest parts of Africa says it, yet the positive outlook on life over there – despite the extreme poverty – can only be fully appreciated up close and personal.

“That really was the one thing that stood out for me. The people are so generous, always smiling, even though they had absolutely nothing. And to be honest I didn’t really get to see the extreme poverty that is out there.

“It’s something I still think about, and probably haven’t really got my head around yet. You do start wondering if maybe having more things in life can actually be detrimental. The more things you own, the more they own you, and so on.

“I think as well that until you visit these places you’re never sure what the charities are doing with the money. I can genuinely say from what I’ve seen these projects do make a massive difference. The food distribution, the water projects, education, and the livelihood programmes. The water project, especially.

“Something so simple as getting water into the village, whereas beforehand the mother of the family would have to walk three or four hours, with a few big buckets, then come home and try to feed the family and wash and everything else with that water.

“And it’s very easy to come home again, and like flicking a switch, you just forget. But I hope I have benefited from the experience. It’s not something you think about every day, but something does trigger it now and again, and in those moments it’s easier to sit back and appreciate all you do have.

“I’m not going to say it’s been easy watching rugby from the stands for the past six months, and definitely had mixed emotions watching the game in Cardiff, but then it makes it more exciting to be a part of such a successful club.”

Concern are now seeking recruits for one of their next main fund-raising challenges, the Great Ethiopian Run in November, and while Kearney has had to pass on that opportunity, given he intends on being back in the thick of the rugby season by then, he already has some sense of what distance running means to Ethiopians.

“You really do see lots of people running, just because of the distances they need to travel from one place to another. It’s no surprise they’re so good at distance running, but what surprised me was that they’re nearly all walking or running barefoot.

“It got me thinking that anyone doing the Great Ethiopian Run should take their runners off, maybe for the last 100 metres or so, just to appreciate what most people in Ethiopia go through on an everyday basis.”

Another thing perhaps to be experienced to be fully appreciated.

See: www.concernchallenge.org/greatethiopianrun