IN A poor pocket of Kenya where homelessness and HIV are rife, former Oxley High School student Michael Hawthorne sparks hope.
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And, it all started unexpectedly at a dinner party.
"We were disillusioned by what we were seeing but we still wanted to do something, we couldn't walk away from it," Mr Hawthorne said.
"It was a huge culture shock at the beginning, even now after 15 years there's a lot of stuff that doesn't work in Kenya that frustrates you.
"You can go days without access to the Internet or power, the third largest city Kisumu is next to a huge body of water but still they can't pump that water to the city."
Mr Hawthorne is involved in Friends of Rang'i that supplies school equipment, Happy Villages that improves one township at a time and the Strategic Empowerment Program that supports and educates people infected with HIV or AIDS.
Since that program started the rate of HIV in the area has been reduced from 80 per cent to 40 per cent.
Mum, Jenny Hawthorne, has stepped in to do her bit too.
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Every year she holds a charity bowls day at Tamworth City Bowling Club to fund school equipment and build mud huts for young men in the village who are forced to leave home at age 11.
Traditionally the child's father would build the new home for him, but many of the children are orphaned because of the prevalence of HIV and poverty.
"I fell in love with the people, I loved going out to the schools where there's dirt floors, no tables, chairs or power but the kids are all smiling," Mrs Hawthorne said.
The charity bowls day is on Sunday, May 5 and costs $12 with registration at 9:15am. For more information phone 0411 592 049.