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Meet the Leeds grandmother behind Kidz in Kampz charity
Madge Davey.
a trip to Thailand changed the life of Leeds grandmother Madge Davey.
Deeply affected by the plight of the Karen people who had been forced out of their native Burma, on her return to Britain she set up a charity to help them.
Now in its 10th year, Kidz in Kampz provides food and clothes for the children of the overcrowded refugee camps of northern Thailand.
The charity, based in Holt Park, has also built pre-school nurseries for 200 two to four-year-olds and supports boarding houses which care for up to 60 young people while they train to become teachers.
Madge, 68, has two grown-up daughters and lives in Adel. Interview by Grant Woodward.
“I wouldn’t say I’m proud of what Kidz in Kampz has achieved, it’s more a feeling of being privileged that I’ve been able to do something.
My daughter Susan was teaching at a private school in Thailand when she heard about the camps along the Thai-Burmese border and decided she could make a difference.
I don’t know what possessed me but something told me I needed to go. I had only been to Spain before that, so it was exciting but scary at the same time.
You need papers to get into camp so the nuns who worked there smuggled me in there in the back of a truck.
You see suffering everywhere, but there’s nothing like being in a place with so many children who have absolutely nothing.
Just looking in their eyes convinced me I had to do something to help them.
I decided to have a jumble sale, which raised £450 and when I sent that money out there I was hooked.
I thought if I can raise money that easily I want to do more.
I go out to Thailand once a year and the children call me grandma and run after me.
“Originally when I went I saw all these skinny kids and now I go and see these normal-looking children who are getting an education.
I remember a few years ago I felt there was something different and it took me a few moments to realise it was the sound of children’s laughter, because I hadn’t heard that before.
When a child comes up to you and puts their hand in yours you know what you’re doing is worth it.
The one thing I couldn’t live without is a purpose. I would crumble up and die if I didn’t have something to do.
Too many women think that once they get beyond child-bearing age or approaching retirement that they’re of no use to society.
It’s up to you to find a niche where you can be useful.
It doesn’t matter if you’re 20 or 80. If you’re fit and healthy you can have a purpose.
I used to run an antiques shop but I gave it up to go back to university when I was 49.
I spent many years being a wife and mother and I was very happy doing it.
“But gradually as I got older and went out to work I proved to myself that I had potential in different areas.
Going to university was like a different world to the one I had come from.
The girls I met all had very progressive ideas compared to mine, my morals were still in the Victorian era.
We would go to the coffee bar and they would stake their claim to a bloke.
I came from a world where it was the husband who always decided what you would or wouldn’t do.
I was shocked at the sexual liberation they had, but at the same time I was pleased that women had got to that stage.
My first job was in the printing trade but I decided I wanted to be a secretary.
So I went to night school to get some qualifications and moved into the office.
I thought it was the bee’s knees being an office worker rather than being on the shop floor.
My childhood was a very happy one.
“I was brought up in a staunch working class house-hold in Wood-house and every penny my parents earned went into the house and looking after us.
Other people in our area spent their money on drink and other things but my parents didn’t. We were very well loved and looked after.
My first love was a boy called Rodney Stiles. We went to Blenheim Secondary School together and I thought he was ever so handsome.
I think people would be surprised to find out I’m quite shy underneath.
Many a time I’ll be speaking to people and my knees will be knocking.
I have to go out and speak to people about the charity but I can do it because I’m speaking on behalf of the children.
“If I could meet anyone it would be Elvis Presley. He was my idol throughout my teens – he still is today.
“The only period I didn’t like was when he was in the army and they were trying to give him the smooth boy-next-door image.
I didn’t like that because Elvis was a rebel and that’s what we all liked about him.
The last time I cried was a fortnight ago when my friend had left her husband.
I like living on my own but there’s no substitute for a good relationship and I was sad that hers had broken down.”
* Kidz In Kampz is holding an open day on Saturday, July 9 from 10am to 2.30pm at its shop at the Holt Park Shopping Centre, including a designer and pre-loved clothes sale.
FAVOURITES
Food: Jacket potato with tuna. I eat it for lunch every day.
Book: Jayne Eyre. In my opinion Charlotte Bronte was the very first feminist.
TV: Question Time. I like debates and David Dimbleby is quite handsome.
Actor: Robson Green
Holiday: Our annual girls’ trip to Greece.
Star sign: Scorpio
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