Bundaberg teacher Cathy Booth's digging deep for the kids of Kenya

Bundaberg primary school teacher, mother and grandmother Cathy Booth has raised more than $250,000 in two years to build her own orphanage in Kenya.

Cathy?s doing Bundaberg proud

AFTER witnessing children foraging for food in rubbish piles in Kenya, Cathy Booth was spurred into action. But sponsoring a child or donating to a global charity was never going to be enough for this Bundaberg primary school teacher.

In the past two years, Mrs Booth, 55, has raised more than $250,000 (in money and kind) to establish her own Kenyan orphanage, Umoja, which will ultimately house around 60 children.

It all started on a holiday to Kenya in 2010 where Mrs Booth was moved by the poverty and the plight of the many orphans in the African nation. She returned in mid-2011 to volunteer for two weeks in an orphanage - for which she also raised $2000 - and returned to Australia determined to go a step further.

"The need is just so great," Mrs Booth explained. "There are simply not enough orphanages (in Kenya) to home the orphaned and vulnerable children there."

Mrs Booth used $36,000 of her own money to buy a 6ha block on Kenya's south coast where she has built the first building, a perimeter fence, a well and water tank which also supplies surrounding villages.

Starting out with a few humble chook raffles, she has since escalated that to gala dinners, golf days and trivia nights and also enlisted the help of the East Rotary Club of Bundaberg.

The work has earned Mrs Booth a nomination for the Community Spirit Medal in the 2013 Pride of Australia Medal.

Pride of Australia Nomination

The mother of four and grandmother of three works full-time but uses her long-service and annual leave to check progress on the orphanage which has already employed a manager and two security staff. On top of her paid job, Mrs Booth devotes an estimated 70 hours a week to the orphanage.

According to 2001 figures from UNICEF, Kenya has around 2.6 million orphans from a total population of 43.6 million. Around 1.1 million of those children have been orphaned by the country's HIV/AIDS problem, according to UNICEF.

Mrs Booth hopes to have Umoja open for business by mid-2014, having secured 10 sponsors at $1100 a year to support the first 10 children.

For information go to www.umojahome.com.

Nominate your unsung hero at www.prideofaustralia.com.au. Nominations close Tuesday, July 16. Facebook www.facebook.com/prideofaustraliamedal or #prideofoz on Twitter.

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