A MAN from a village in what is now Zimbabwe, where he was denied the chance to go to school, is the new director of Dorset Race Equality Council.

David Shire believes he can put the council on its feet following a couple of difficult years when a crisis has loomed over funding, staffing and premises.

"Fund-raising is top of my priorities," he said. "I'll be trying to engage with all communities - the organisation is for all of us."

David's father was a senior Methodist in the old Rhodesia who went to jail many times for his opposition to white rule. He left for Britain and his children - who were denied education because of his activities - were smuggled out following the death of their mother.

David attended school for the first time in England aged 14 and did so well that he went to university at the same time as his peers.

His late father influ-enced him profoundly.

"He said 'Judge people by the content of their character, not by how they look'," said David.

"When I started reading I found Martin Luther King had said that and I began to recognise where my dad was coming from. He helped me to build confidence in myself."

"Coming out of apartheid you built this wall between yourself and the other and that means you can't work together in love, peace and racial harmony," he said.

Latterly David has experienced problems with his daughter, who has been ill.

After 18 months she has not received treatment and has had no schooling - a scenario which confirms what other African and Caribbean people reported in work he has done in London and Nottingham.

"I believe very strongly that the agencies that are there to help her failed her," he said.

"People often talk about racism in the context of the police but I'm concerned about racism by service providers such as the NHS and education authorities.

"I find it easy to approa-ch people because I know that if they know me they will not feel threatened. If they judge me by what I am and not the colour of my skin, there's abso-lutely nothing to fear."

First published: November 16, 2004