A SPECIAL evening to support children's charities at home and in Africa takes place in Whitchurch next month.

The cheese and wine night being held at Whitchurch Primary School will support an organisation originally set up by Middlemoor resident Geoff Fox and his wife, Vicky, and Children's Hospice South West.

Orphans in the Wild is a grassroots initiative in rural Tanzania, which Geoff founded six years ago.

It aims to provide shelter, sustenance, education, and medical care for orphans and foster families in the Mufindi district of Tanzania. The charity tries to curtail the spread of HIV-AIDS through teaching life skills — launguage, financial, vocational and self-sufficiency — and to create hope and opportunities for future generations.

Geoff has lived in Mufindi for many years, returning to Middlemoor for a few months annually.

He founded Orphans in the Wild in 2005, when a desperate 14-year-old boy asked for a job. Due to legislation he was unable to work legally, but as a result of AIDS, he had become head of his family, responsible for supporting his aging grandmother and younger siblings.

The charity's original project focussed on building and staffing six orphans' dormitories, plus improvements in local schools and clinics.

Now, the project has re-focussed its efforts on to the source of the orphans' problems, with greater emphasis on testing and treatment of HIV-AIDS, and education to promote greater awareness within the community, reducing the stigma attached to the disease.

The hope is that this approach will impact on a greater proportion of the community, so reducing the number of orphans.

Marian Gough, a trustee of Orphans in the Wild, said: 'Geoff is a complete inspiration to us all with his vision and enthusiasm and is totally dedicated to helping the villagers in Mufindi.

'He commands great respect from those who live in Mufindi with his work.

'Geoff and Jenny Knight, our administrative manager and co-ordinator for our projects also hold adult classes for English, voluntarily several evenings a week.

'Their only payment is that those who have learned English to a certain standard, go in turn to the villagers and help them learn English. This is very successful.'

Another of the volunteers working with the charity is Annie Gibbs, the widow of Tavistock doctor Duncan Gibbs

Annie is carrying out voluntary physiotherapy work with children in need of her expertise in Mufindi.

She has been doing a great deal of work recently with a young boy called Hezron, who has cerebral palsy. She has also taught the housemother at the orphanage to make sure he does his exercises regularly and his condition has improved a great deal thanks to her care.

Coincidentally, Judy Pride, the West Devon fundraiser for Children's Hospice South West, the other charity to benefit from the wine and cheese evening, has also been to Mufindi and has seen for herself the difficulties faced by poor families and orphans in Tanzania.

The hospice's Precious Lives Appeal, to build a new hospice at Little Harbour in St Austell, finally reached its target in September.

But CHSW relies almost entirely on fundraising to keep providing the support to families with life-limited children — a staggering total of £6 million in running costs each and every year.

Judy said: 'Our fundraising continues as we begin to furnish Little Harbour with the specialist equipment and home comforts that our families will require during their stays, and strive to raise funds to sustain our service.  

'Each and every year, sadly there will continue to be life-limited children and families who will need to use Little Harbour and our other hospices, Little Bridge House in Devon and Charlton Farm near Bristol.'

All are welcome to the cheese and wine evening, which takes place at 7pm on Tuesday, November 15.

There will be a presentation on the work of both charities, and a talk about Gruyere and local cheeses.

The event is being supported by Elise Jungheim of Tavistock Country Cheeses and Charles Steevenson Wines.

Tickets for the event are £10 and are available from Bookstop in Market Street, Tavistock or Brigid Foley in Paddons Row — please book by Monday, November 7.

All proceeds will be donated to Orphans in the Wild and Children's Hospice South West.

For more information call 07775 844618.