Woman’s charity reaches out to Africa

Lorraine Paquette first travelled to Africa in 1978 and instantly fell in love with the people; she knew the continent would be a big part of her life.

It took 25 years, but the Thunder Bay native finally returned in 2004 with a New Zealand based aid organization that worked with orphans and HIV positive children.

While her first trip took her to Sudan, when Paquette returned in ’04, she was told about a severely poverty-stricken village in northern Tanzania called Mchukuuni.

"I fell in love with the village and the people and I knew I wanted to help that village," she said. "It’s a rather poor village; rather than spread myself out and just give a little here, a little there, I decided this village was going to be my priority."

But she knew she couldn’t do it alone and founded Wipe Their Tears, a non-profit organization, based out of Vancouver, devoted to helping the impoverished in Tanzania, but with a focus on the children.

"As a child my dream was to help African children," she said. "This is a dream come true for me."

Paquette has supplied the village with first-aid items, clothing and many basic necessities. She’s even helped some of the children be able to attend school. She did all that on her own. But she knew she had to raise more money and formed her charity.

She’s since bought a piece of land with construction already started on a childcare centre. But in the meantime she’s focused on providing mosquito nets, food and basic living supplies like chickens and goats.

"There’s no point building a centre when all the children around are dying," she said. "We have the land. We started construction but malaria in Tanzania is still the No. 1 killer of children under five."

On her last trip, Paquette delivered about 1,000 mosquito nets to the village and on her next trip would like to distribute another 1,000.

Anyone interested in donating or for more information visit http://www.wipetheirtears.com.