Helping hands: Julie Jones, centre, with Joan McPhee, Mary Gallagher and some of the knitted donations set to brighten the lives of AIDS orphans in South Africa.0
ERIN PEARSON
AGE is no barrier to 63-year-old Julie Jones.
The grandmother will fly to South Africa next month to help AIDS orphans in a mission of hope she has planned for decades.
“I’ve always wanted to do something to help orphans in South Africa,” she said.
“I thought ‘I’m 63 and if I don’t do it now I never will’.”
“Every country has its problems but, to me, it’s worse over there – one child dies with AIDS every three minutes.
“If I can put a smile on someone’s face what a great thing to do.”
Ms Jones will base herself in Kayamandi, a small village outside Stellenbosch.
She will spend her mornings in a nursery before teaching kindergarten classes and adult education lessons during afternoons.
Ms Jones said she hoped to inspire other “more-mature” Australians to follow in her footsteps.
“Some people want to learn to ski, I’ve always wanted to go to South Africa,” she said.
“When we get to a certain age we think ‘Oh, what can we learn to do? Maybe bowls or join a club?’ but I feel there are no limits now as to what we mature people are capable of doing.
“To me this was my dream. I’m doing it while my bones still work.”
Residents of Whittington’s Eden Park aged care facility have knitted Ms Jones 60 toy bears, jumpers and scarves for the orphaned children.
