By Sam McMurdock
From alcohol dependency and homelessness to representing Ireland and graduating from university, Chloe Kenna shares her story with Ireland’s Big Issue.
Chloe Kenna, 26, from Durrow, County Laois, has not had an easy life. After her dad died, she spiralled deep into alcohol dependency that resulted in homelessness.
But this year, she represented Ireland at the Homeless World Cup in Sacramento, California, US and graduated with a degree in business studies, and now works as a financial analyst in Limerick – a testament to the Irish Homeless Street Leagues slogan, “a ball can change a life.”
“I’ve always loved soccer and played with boys from as far back as I can recall, as no girls in our area played,” she says. “I joined a local football team at the age of six and was in it until I was 13, when, thankfully, a girls’ team was set up.
This article first appeared in Ireland's Big Issue, a magazine sold on the streets of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland by people who have limited other ways of earning an income.