Charlotte Tipping: World Vision

Today we had the pleasure of inducting new member Sara Arun (pictured left). Sara is a retired nurse who specialised in the care of diabetic children and is very active in her local community. We welcome her to the Club. She has joined our Environment Committee.

Our speaker was Charlotte Tipping (pictured below) from World Vision UK. World Vision was founded over fifty years ago by an American serviceman who had served in Korea. As he was preparing to leave he gave his last $5 to the family of an ill girl. World Vision now works to help vulnerable children in all parts of the world to overcome poverty and experience fullness of life.

World Vision is one of the fourteen members of the Disasters Emergency Committee but is not well known in this country. Charlotte told us of a reception she attended where someone approached her and told her how much he appreciated what World Vision is doing because he was a strong supporter of charities working with blind people. That is not what they do!

Internationally World Vision is actually larger than Oxfam and is well known countries like Australia.

Since its foundation World Vision has many times deployed to areas of war and natural disasters, including:

• the Vietnam War;
• the HIV epidemic;
• the Haitian earthquake;
• the Syrian war; and
• the Asian tsunami.

The places where it is active today include Afghanistan.