Jacqui Boyett with Chris Klemens at Global Ripple op shop in the Byron Industrial Estate. Photo Jeff Dawson.
It began when Jacqui Boyett was living on a remote Fijian Island in 2012 and realised that she could really help the people where she was living.
‘From our stay there I realised that they needed a lot of help. I set up a charity and started fundraising,’ said Jacqui.
‘My initial thought was to just fix their teeth to remove their current pain, it only cost $30 per person. But then I realised the problems were much deeper than tooth decay. Many of the villagers were sent away from the hospital and were not able to receive our help because they suffered from diabetes. Some people even had their legs cut off in serious cases.
‘So we organised a health program and had it delivered to the village and the school to bring awareness of healthy eating and sugar consumption. Since then we have helped remove rotten teeth from people suffering from chronic tooth ache.’
Global Ripple continue to support the village of Gunu in Fiji and have organised a ferry that will transport goods to the mainland for sale as well as people needing medical help.
‘The boat had its first trip to the village last week. It will enable the villagers to sell their goods to make money for food and other supplies. It will also help the six neighbouring villages, in total approximately 1000 people will benefit from this boat.’
Nepal earthquake
Following the Nepal earthquake in 2015 they raised $5,000 and were able to build temporary shelters fro 180 people in one of the worst hit villages. ‘We jumped on a plane and walked for days to get to the remote village that was hit the worst. Hundreds of families left sleeping under tarps as their homes had been destroyed. We managed to buy the materials to construct temporary shelters to get them through the next few years until they could rebuild their homes,’ continued Jacqui.
An addition to the family has meant that Jacqui needed to look at new ways of to support the projects she believed in and she started the Global Ripple Op shop in the Byron Industrial estate 15 months ago.
‘It has been amazing since the day it opened,’ said Jacqui.
Global Ripple is a not-for-profit organisation that is supporting a range of projects including an orphanage in Kenya, sending clothing, bed linen and household items up to local communities in Arnhem Land and building a house in Cambodia.
Kenya
In Kenya Global Ripple have been supporting the Home of Grace Orphanage help with school fees and have also purchased a solar water pump and water tanks.
‘The Home of Grace was set up by an Aboriginal lady who went travelling,’ continued Jacqui. ‘She met all these children and realised she could do something for them.’
With the installation of the pump and water tanks completed the next phase will include the building of a security wall, guardhouse and installation of electric hot showers.
Building houses in Cambodia
Jacqui’s daughter is one of ten students from Byron High School who will be heading off to Cambodia to help build houses for families with Volunteer Building Cambodia. Golden Ripple have donated $4,000 for the building of one of the houses while the kids and their families have raised the money for the other. The houses provide safe, dry housing for rural Cambodian families that help ensure children are able to access school, clean sanitation and water.
‘This will be the third trip we have taken,’ said Deputy Principal, Mark Smith.
‘The first trip we booked through a tour operator who sent us to an orphanage where we had a awful experience.’
Doing some research when he got back Mr Smith discovered that there were questions around the running of the orphanage. He then contacted Volunteer Building Cambodia and created a trip for the kids that would not only show them a different culture but would give them a chance to contribute in a positive way to the lives of the people they met.
Over one week the students will help build two houses that they have fundraised the money to build. They will also have a chance to spend a day at a Cambodian school as well as visiting the killing fields and Angkor Wat.
The school provides the opportunity to students to do the trip every second year.
The future
The team at Global Ripple love to collaborate with other Non for profit NGO projects, local and international.
‘We have about eight of us as members who do a range of things from working the shop to online,’ continued Jacqui.
‘We are at the point where we are looking for more projects that can do with some help. We love to collaborate with other non for profit NGO projects, local and international.
‘We believe in collaboration. Our motto is “Love is born through the giving of kindness” and we hope that our op-shop experience and charity work reflect this.’
The Global Ripple op shop is situated in Byron Bay Arts and Industrial Estate, 1 Ti-Tree Place. Opening hours are Monday to Saturday 9.30am–4.30pm.
‘We have a fantastic eclectic range of clothing, bric-a-brac and furniture and in collaboration with serendipity we also have a great range of up-cycle fashion and festival clothing.’
Donations are always welcome and they have free local pick ups for quality goods. Contact Jacqui on 0457 192 225 for more information.
