Local young people creating global impacts

AN eye-opening journey to Zimbabwe by a young Byron Shire man eight years ago has led to the establishment of a global charity with operations on three continents.

Dedicated to making childhood education accessible, comfortable and safe, the LoveMore Project had its genesis when Joaquin Rudd visited the Hwange district and witnessed the challenges local children faced in attending school as ‘bush boarders’.

“They prepare their meals on open fires outside, bathe themselves however they can, and sleep on the floor of their classrooms at night,” Rudd said.

“The living conditions are immensely challenging, as the lack of supervision and security exposes the children to malnutrition, discomfort, disease, gender-based violence and sexual exploitation.

 

“These conditions handicap the children greatly; however, the conditions also show an iron-clad determination from these young students who strive to receive an education, and that is what we hope to aid.”

Rudd spent his postgraduate years studying and working in construction management and went on to collaborate with architects and builders to design a simple, practical, and safe blueprint for a dormitory that could be easily built and replicated.

The volunteer organisation’s three founders, Rudd, Daniele Menin and Jacopo Biondani, are now supported by three coordinators in Australia and Italy.

Also from the Byron Shire, for LoveMore Australian community coordinator Thandi McAllister, the cause is personal and began long before she encountered the project.

“When I was 12, I did a school project that opened my eyes to how many young people around the world, especially girls, are denied education because of poverty or lack of basic resources,” she said.

“I learned of and volunteered for charities that provided reusable menstrual products to help girls stay in school in places like Uganda and Sierra Leone and it hit me how unfair it was that something so small could change an entire future, not just of these children, but the whole world.

“That discovery shaped me, and growing up in a safe, supportive community in the Northern Rivers made the contrast impossible to ignore.

“It’s never just about missing school; it’s about malnutrition, unsafe living conditions, and the violence and discrimination that come with poverty.

“For years, I felt helpless, like my voice couldn’t reach far enough, so when I met Joaquin and LoveMore, there was no going back.”

The core team has collaborated with volunteer architects, accountants, builders, designers, IT consultants, NGO executives, videographers, and business consultants to establish the charity and its projects.

For the Nechishala School project, the charity partnered with World Vision Zimbabwe on the logistics to provide the children with weather-proof shelter, sanitary water and cooking facilities, beds, electricity, toilets and showers, and the security they require to focus on their studies; all for the cost of an earthmoving job in Australia.

 

The inaugural project will directly benefit 226 students and indirectly support eight teachers and a community of approximately 2000 in the immediate area.

McAllister said while donations were important, what the charity needed most was faith.

“What fuels LoveMore is belief, advocacy and trust, and we need our community to see the vision, to stand beside us when challenges come, and understand this is not a fleeting idea, it’s a commitment,” she said.

“We’re asking people to talk about it, share it in their workplaces, schools and circles. Every conversation helps build momentum, and the more awareness we create, the sooner we can finish building the dormitory and begin reaching more communities.

“Money helps, but what really sustains us is knowing our community believes in what we’re doing.”

For information, visit projectlovemore.org