Bringing joy to the world ...
From the The Star
Canterbury, New Zealand
14.03.2007
By AMANDA LEGGE
Les and Bridgette Richards no longer have concerns about an empty future without children.
The Bromley couple, who had been trying to conceive since they married in 1999, will not only have their own child next month – they are also helping make the lives of children in Zambia a whole lot better.
Mr Richards, 39, is the planning manager for Tip Top and last year took on a personal project he called “Ice Creams for Africa”. The project was inspired by his participation in a course run by Landmark Education.
He originally wanted to bring joy to the children in Kafue, where the couple’s sponsored child Yvonne, 8, lives with her family, by sending them a container of frozen icecreams to try.
He emailed colleagues to see if they wanted to help. Nearly 30 came on board and the group then contacted ChildFund New Zealand for advice.
ChildFund told them the most pressing need in the Kafue Project where Yvonne lived was a clean water supply.
A target of $28,000 was set, to buy a “joy pump” – a children’s merry-go-round whose circular motion pumps water from a borehole to a tank.
At the same time as the project was kicking off, the Richards were having their last IVF treatment.
And now their baby daughter is due on April 9.
Mr Richards attributes the Landmark Education course with turning their lives around. Instead of focussing on themselves, they were taught to think about how they could help others. Good things seemed to eventuate since they took on that mindset.
So far “Ice Creams for Africa” has raised $7000.
# To find out more about the project see www.icecreamsforafrica.co.nz
