An Irish woman, who built a hospital in Malawi in her late son's memory, has said the clinic has had a 'huge impact' on the community.
Mags Riordan's son, Billy, was backpacking in Malawi when he died in a swimming accident in 1999.
This tragedy followed two other deaths in her family.
Her four-month-old baby daughter Niamh died in 1974 when the family car rolled off the pier in their hometown of Dingle.
Two years later, in 1976, her young son Luke died of a cot death.
Ms Riordan told The Hard Shoulder Billy's death is still a mystery.
Mags Riordan. Picture: Supplied"Billy went into Lake Malawi and didn't come out," she said.
"We can only assume that he must have had a catastrophic event while he was swimming.
"We're assuming it must have been a brain haemorrhage - he was very young, he was just 25.
"We never had a [post mortem] done, because it took nearly four weeks to get his body back to Ireland.
"A PM at that stage would probably have been inconclusive, and I didn't really see the point of delaying anything any longer.
"At the end of the day, a post mortem wasn't going to change anything".
The Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic in Malawi. Picture: SuppliedMs Riordan said Billy had already seen a lot of the world.
"He had done a lot of travelling," she said.
"He had just turned 25 but he had travelled Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia, South America, Europe and parts of Africa.
"He had been backpacking since he was about 17.
"He had just done his degree at NUIG, but during holidays and stuff like that he travelled".
Mags Riordan in Malawi. Picture: SuppliedMs Riordan travelled to Malawi after Billy's death.
"He had been there on two previous occasions, that was his third visit," she said.
"He loved the country, he loved what he saw, he loved the people - it's an amazing country.
"I went back in 2000, because I was curious to see what the attraction was.
"In those days, there was no road into this village, there was no electricity, there was no running water, there were no telephones.
"I just thought, 'The only way to really find out what happened was to go there', so I did".
'We should start at the beginning'
Ms Rioirdan said she wanted to do something to remember her son.
"The idea to do something had been brewing," she said.
"To be honest with you, I didn't know what I was going to meet when I went out there.
"On my first trip I spent about two months in the village, and because my background was education I thought, 'Maybe I'll do something in education'".
She said her priorities changed when she realised the village had no hospital.
"The way things seemed to me was that children didn't live long enough to go to school, a lot of them," she said.
"So maybe we should start at the beginning, which is healthcare".
Mags Riordan at The Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic in Malawi. Picture: SuppliedConstruction on The Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic started in October 2003, and it saw its first patients in August 2004.
Ms Riordan said the next step is a maternity unit.
"We started with one building and one nurse and 10 local staff," she explained. "Today, we have three buildings and 40 staff and we're still growing.
"Our next step now is to build a maternity unit".
'A huge impact'
Ms Riordan said they are now treating their second generation of patients.
"When we started in 2004, we had babies and young children coming to the clinic [with] their mums bringing them," she said.
"Those babies and young children are now adults, and they're now bringing their children.
"So we're now treating the second generation in the village - and the mortality rate in the village is rock bottom, by comparison to mortality rates in other parts of the country.
"So it has made a huge impact in that community," she added.
Anyone who would like to donate to this project can go to www.billysmalawiproject.org
A documentary, 'In The Name of the Son', will be broadcast on RTÉ One on Thursday at 10.15pm
