A chance encounter while on a stunning African safari has proved to be a life-changing experience for one Perth woman.
Enjoying a holiday with a friend in Kenya, Dawn Ann Halliwell found herself gaining an insight into the crippling poverty that continues to affect many people in the country.
And that has led her to raise thousands of pounds to support a small orphanage, housing 23 young people, nestled beside one of the country’s most popular visitor destinations.
Dawn Ann (49), a customer adviser at B&Q, was visiting Kikambala in the country’s coastal province described on travel websites as “an oasis of palm fronds and white sands” and known for its beach holidays, watersports and night-life.
It also offers the opportunity to travel further inland on safari to witness the real Africa and view some of the country’s stunning wildlife.
It was returning from one such trip that, having made friends with their guides, Dawn Ann saw for herself another side of the country, one where, away from the tourist areas, poverty and deprivation is still rife.
“We’d been on safari and when we returned we met with a number of local people who kindly showed us their villages,” she said. “There, we came across an orphanage little more than a mud hut where a pastor was caring for 23 children.Squalor”Squalor is the only way I can think to describe the conditions they were living in. The pastor, Joseph, was feeding the children with what little resources he had and he was also trying to teach them, to give them a basic education, though, as orphans, they would never be able to go on to a school.
“Since I’ve come home, the images of the orphanage have lived with me and I decided I wanted to help the pastor in his efforts.”
With the help of family and friends, Dawn Ann has already raised more than £3000 for the orphanage and recently visited to oversee a series of improvements.
“We managed to lay a new concrete floor for the orphanage, put a door on it and provide the children with mattresses and mosquito nets,” she said.
“I’m heading back in the next few months in the hope of knocking down the mud walls and building new, brick ones and, in the future, I hope to be able to put a new roof on, too.
“I’ve been working closely with the pastor to find local building supplies and to find local tradesmen who can carry out the work.”
A number of fund-raising activities have already taken place to raise funds for the project and the latest will take place on Monday.
Dawn Ann will be staging an evening of spiritualism with well-known clairvoyant Glad Taylor in Chaplinz Bar at Bridgend, Perth, from 7.30pm.
Tickets are £10, with proceeds going to support the orphanage.
Photo used under Creative Commons licences courtesy of Flickr user The Dilly Lama.