In Loving Memory of Dave Rickards

I first met Dave (and, of course, Kerry) in 2011, and with that meeting began Ruben Centre’s great relationship with the then DAK Foundation, now DAK International Network. I didn’t quite know what I was walking into when, in 2012, I agreed to meet them at Docklands one Sunday while home from Kenya. In typical Dave fashion, he was on a mission: to find yet another project in Africa or South Asia to transform.

“How can we help ‘Ruben’s’?” (his nickname for us) was his no-nonsense approach during our hour-long conversation. I recall his wry smile, quirky sense of humor, and teasing questions—first about my humble self, and then about my work in Nairobi. People always came first for Dave. It was love at first sight between us; we both shared a distaste for bureaucracy and "standing orders," preferring intuition and a sense of "what you see is what you get."

Dave hated bull**** and false prophets. He flourished in the pride of being self-made—fitting the Frank Sinatra anthem, “I Did It My Way.”

Kerry and Dave at Ruben Health Centre during their first visit in 2011 to Ruben Centre.

A testimony to the success of that first meeting was Dave and Kerry turning up at Ruben Centre in Nairobi a few months later. They arrived with several pieces of essential medical laboratory equipment, spent a few hours with our Halth Centre staff, took a quick tour of the grounds, and left. This was Dave’s nature: efficient and direct. After all, he knew I would be joining them the next day on a flight to Arusha, Tanzania, for a trip that would truly cement my place as part of the Rickards family.

He had been commissioned to visit an institution in Tanzania in his search for potential projects. Clearly, Dave had money, but he had made it two dollars at a time and truly knew its value. My standing with Dave was well and truly solidified when I avoided the long immigration line by entering the country through the cleaner’s domain; when they finally emerged, I made sure to look suitably bored and peeved at having to wait for them.

Compared to everything else he saw on that trip, Ruben Centre—with its dedication to the thousands of people in the vast Mukuru slum—was the right fit for a DAK partnership. That partnership flourished for more than ten years.

Every year, I would approach DAK with our budget and our needs. Every year, DAK would step up with funding, medical equipment, and a truckload of questions, usually followed by a smidgen of, "Why not do it this way?" Dave had an insatiable appetite to know more and to improve upon what he was already doing.

This vital support peaked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dave and Kerry, knowing the essential services offered by Ruben Centre, were constantly asking how things were and what else they could do to help the sick, hungry, and suffering. This was an enormous relief to me, especially knowing that whatever I asked for, help would materialize within 24 hours.

Dave and Kerry were a truly great team and donors to the world, but for Ruben Centre and me, they were so much more. I have truly lost a great friend, supporter, and soulmate.

May he rest in peace.

By: Br. Frank O’Shea OAM