Author(s): Judy Steel

Australian

Despite plans to enjoy her retirement after working as a nurse for over three decades, Judy Steel found herself in Uganda at the age of 58, providing medical aid to some of Africa's most disadvantaged people. Since 2000, she has returned every year for several months at a time, establishing a small hospital, health clinics for mothers and babies, a physiotherapy centre, literacy school, micro-loan bank and farming infrastructure. She has done this almost singlehandedly, with the financial support of other Australian retirees and a Federal government grant, and has become known among the locals as 'Mama Jude'.