Coming from different walks of life, Paul and Aileen met and married as they worked in the lawn business. After more than 35 years of planting and nurturing plant seeds, they are now working with seeds of a very different nature...
Paul was born in South Australia in 1951. At 3 months old, he contracted Polio and the doctor expected him to die. 9 months later, surprisingly still alive, he contracted Meningitis too. Though the illnesses took their toll on his health, and he had to wear a caliper on his left leg, he grew up knowing he was lucky to be alive.
He worked with his dad in the family lawn business from the age of 8, and it was there he met his wife-to-be. Aileen had been born in Dundee, Scotland, but came to Australia as part of a ten pound immigrant family. She was 15 when she came to work for the lawn business, and Paul was assigned to train her. 4 years later, they were married, and today they have three lovely daughters and six grandchildren.
They later set up their own lawn business, and Paul ended up introducing Instant Lawn to South Australia, as well as starting up SA’s first Lawn Scientific Research Centre. He spent quite a bit of time in the public eye, promoting lawn and it’s benefits on TV and radio, and as a guest speaker at many different clubs and groups.
Aileen always had a passion for children and did some study towards kindergarten teaching. Whenever they went to a garden expo, she would teach children how to correctly plant seedlings and gave them an opportunity to pot their own plant to take home with them. In 1997 she was given the Award of Honour from the Nursery and Landscape Industry Awards.
After many years of sucessfully running their own business and raising their children, Paul and Aileen went to Cambodia to visit a friend, and returned to Australia with a deep love for the Cambodian people and a strong conviction to help the poorest of the poor.
To hear about the journey that changed their lives and initiated Care for Cambodia, read “How It Began".
Paul and Aileen share a strong faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and give Him all credit and praise for what has been achieved towards helping these beautiful people.
You can get to know Paul and Aileen, and their work in Care for Cambodia, more intimately through their Blog.
