A Butcher’s Hook

‘THANKS to Nikki with a double k and Jonathan Wilkes we had enough air miles in the bank to follow Hello! as it flew to Senegal to see Charlie Brooks do some good deeds.

‘I went to Africa and all I got was gum disease’

Brooks rose to fame as the hard-nosed cow that was EastEnders’ Janine Butcher. But keen to show that she possesses a softer side, Charlie undertook some work for World Vision, a charity.

“I didn’t know anything about the county or the culture and it was like stepping back in time,” says Charlie, as she poses with small children in the African scrub.

“Life is simple: it revolves around making food, growing vegetables and collecting clean water – basic survival,” says Charlie.

This she finds refreshing. He also finds the children ”amazing”. As we do, as she tells how hundreds of children, who she deduces had never seen white skin before, rushed up to touch her.

The ides of anyone rushing up to press Charlie’s flesh is pretty farfetched, but Charlie has been in EastEnders and is used to handling such fantastical scenes with ease.

But besides being touched by hundreds of small hands, Charlie has been bitten by the travel bug and plans to do more of it.

“My dream is to go island-hopping in Thailand, Australia or New Zealand,” says Charlie.

But to do that she’ll have to conquer her fear of flying.

“I can force myself on a plane,” says she, “but I get butterflies for weeks before a flight and was in tears at the airport.”

Not that Charlie would waste precious fluid. If there’s one thing she has learnt from her African adventure it is the value of water.

And we learn that now back in Blighty she no longer leaves the tap running when she brushes her teeth.

An act of true selflessness in a world of greed and pain…’

Posted: 18th, February 2004 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink