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Charitable Work
Charities
I'm a patron of numerous Dorset and UK charities, and because I believe
that one should 'act locally' I always try to support my local Dorset
charities, and the wonderful people who work so hard for them. The national
and international charities that I regularly contribute to, because of
the valuable work they do, are:
 Visit
to Sierra Leone for Médecins sans Frontières
In April of 2004, I spent two weeks
in Sierra Leone as the guest of Médecins sans Frontières.
I was there to observe the advances that MSF has made in that country
with its mother-child health initiative. I met with dozens of mothers
and their children, and I even took part in an emergency Caesarean that
helped save the life of a young mother. After my trip, I appeared on BBC's
Breakfast show to talk about what I saw: Watch
BBC Breakfast clip > >
I also wrote an article about my experiences that you can read on the MSF's website: Cradle to grave in Sierra Leone
Zimbabwe library project
When I won the Crime Writers' Association
Gold Dagger Award in 1994 for The Scold's Bridle, I donated the prize
money to start a library project in Zimbabwe. My UK publisher, Macmillan,
donated an equivalent amount of money and together we were able to stock
several bush schools with library books for children, written in the local
dialects. The pictures below show me receiving gifts from some of the
schoolchildren and reviewing the books the money helped buy.
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