Rebel with a Cause
Ray Avery
Random, $39.99, pbk
There is a line Ray Avery uses about having lived like a millionaire and having had to look for cardboard to cover holes in his shoes.
That is the essence of this book: how an abused English boy went from sleeping under a bridge at the age of 13 to becoming a scientist, businessman and New Zealander of the Year.
It is a remarkable transformation and one that, until now, has gone virtually unnoticed by the general public. That's because Avery is a doer, not a promoter.
The message he drums into readers is that there is no point complaining when confronted with an obstacle, nor skiting when something has been achieved; best simply to push on to the next challenge. That is the sort of mantra that can make you cringe when you hear it from those corporate-speaking motivational types.
But Avery comes across as confident without being arrogant, proud without seeming obnoxious.
We are shaped by the world we live in, but Avery's story is of leaving a childhood of abuse and neglect behind. After escaping a frequently absent father and a horrifically nasty mother, he finds himself shuffled between foster homes and orphanages, until "some act of fate" sees h
His story then takes off as Avery starts working in a laboratory, migrates to New Zealand, hooks up with a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and meets the late Fred Hollows, the Dunedin ophthalmologist and humanitarian.
All interesting personal stuff - but the best is to come, as this intrepid thinker finds himself in Eritrea, of all places, working on producing cheap intraocular lenses, and then in Nepal.
Avery gives some extensive views on the value of programmes being run by the major aid agencies, and what he has to say is eye-opening. He also introduces the inventions he and his colleagues are using to improve lives in the developing world.
The pages roll over at a cracking pace and the result is a fascinating glimpse into the life of a most interesting man.
- Hayden Meikle is the Otago Daily Times sports editor
