RIPPLE Africa
742. Geoff Furber
743. Liz Furber
Geoff and Liz Furber, from Buckinghamshire, founded the charity ‘RIPPLE Africa’.
Since founding the charity in 2003, Geoff and Liz have been dedicated to empowering the people of the Nkhata Bay District of Malawi to work towards a more sustainable future. The charity works with 2,000 local Malawians to create sustainable projects which are deeply rooted in the community. For the last 3 years, Liz and Geoff have concentrated on conservation in the area. Recent projects include ‘Fish for Tomorrow’, which is aimed at preserving fish stocks in the area and improving fishing techniques, and the ‘Fruit Tree Project’, which works with 10,000 households to grow fruit trees to improve nutrition and generate an income.
In a personal letter to Geoff and Liz, Prime Minister Theresa May said:
“Through ‘RIPPLE Africa’ you are both supporting the Nkhata Bay community in Malawi to work towards a sustainable future. In particular, your ‘Fish for Tomorrow’ and ‘Fruit Tree Project’ initiatives are directly helping local households to generate an income and you should be proud of this positive impact you have had on the area.”
Geoff and Liz said:
“We are delighted to have received Points of Light awards for RIPPLE Africa’s work in Malawi. We are really passionate about helping local communities in one of the poorest countries in the world and have proved that our philosophy of ‘providing a hand UP and not a hand out’ really works. We run large scale environmental projects and more local education and healthcare projects and it is very satisfying to see the progress that the charity has made over the last fourteen years. We hope to continue volunteering for many years to come!”
Speaker of the House and Geoff and Liz’s local MP, John Bercow, said:
“I offer Geoff and Liz my most sincere congratulations for being awarded the Prime Minister’s Points of Light award. This is well-deserved recognition for their tireless work in supporting some of the most disadvantaged people in the world. I had the pleasure of meeting Geoff and Liz a few years ago and was hugely impressed with their work to empower communities in Malawi, offering them a hand up in order to help them thrive.”