When Liila Phillips was 22 years old she died and was revived by heart massage after being bitten by a deadly tiger snake. She had to have a tracheotomy, was in a coma and was lucky to have survived. It has affected her nervous system and health but not her determination. It may have been this tenuous start in life that eventually drew Liila into a life long passion of giving and bringing joy to others. Given back the gift of life, she has passed this gift on to countless others.

A mother at 19, Liila dedicated her days and the following years to her four children. However, she always knew that when her mothering days were over she would go and do something in the world, she just didn’t know what or how. Then at 36 while working at the co-op in Nambour Lilla came upon a flyer for a seven day workshop in street performing. She recognised that something inside her needed to come out, needed to be expressed and so she signed up. So began her very long career in clowning. As “Flower the Clown”, Liila has been entertaining and spreading joy to children for the past 19 years at Kawana Hotel and has worked in many other venues around the Coast. It illustrates her ‘Gemini personality’ –part earth mother, part mischief maker. A wonderful combination for connecting and bonding with children.

Always one for keeping busy, Liila answered a request in the local paper to help sew school bags for children in Vietnam. At one of the pick up visits, Liila asked if anyone could go with them to deliver the bags. When she was told yes, she borrowed money and booked a flight to Vietnam.

On her first visit in 2002 Liila went with Project Vietnam, a group consisting of a variety of tradesmen who were renovating a medical centre. The children there were automatically attracted to Liila. As she states, “Children and I are like bees and honey, we just go together”. By the end of the two weeks, Liila had set up a make shift school and had 35 kids attending both in the morning and afternoons. She had found her place, her means to make a difference. However she found that belonging to a group that had a time frame and schedule, caused her fragile health to flounder, it took too much of a toll.

Back in Australia, Liila did some fundraising and returned to Vietnam on her own two years later. On this trip she discovered Phu My Orphanage. This is an orphanage for over 400 disabled children. When you volunteer there, you are given a room of children to ‘mentor and mother’. Liila has been with the children in that room since. Liila has provided cots, food, mattresses etc, but she realised that all of the children’s basic needs were being adequately met, it was the love, cuddles, fun and quality time that was sadly lacking. Step in Flower Power and a group of the orphans got to spend a whole day at the water park. An absolute treat! When I asked her why Vietnam and not somewhere else she stated that it was because the Vietnamese people are like her – giving and generous.

Spending a month at a time in Vietnam also allows her to do some work with the Red Cross. One of these excursions made her aware that for approx $500.00 you could build a family a home. So of course Liila did. She picked a family, met them and two weeks later they had a new home. (At this she laughs and comments that it didn’t contain a kitchen or bathroom nothing fancy like that, but is was solid and functional and they loved it).

Another aspect of the Vietnamese culture is that boys are valued above girls, so that if there is any money for education it goes toward the son being able to attend school. The daughters do not have that luxury.

Consequently in between visits to Vietnam, Liila spends a lot of time fundraising. The money is distributed between these three causes. Money for houses, money for educating girls and money for fun. So far Liila has built 25 homes, educated 42 girls and organised numerous ‘play’ times, including a music concert. One of the highlights for Liila was taking a group of children to the water park, accompanied by a group of trainee ministers. In the bus all of the adults had a sleepy, but content child on their laps and they sang Christmas carols all the way home. Liila said ‘that it was just a magic time. And in Vietnam where everything is unpredictable, the magic is in the moment. In fact living in the moment is all you have and all you can appreciate.’

This one woman is making a huge difference. She has been greatly helped by Arcadia Love and her M.A.D Project, by donations for raffles, and by hosting dinners and auctions. But fundraising takes a lot of time and energy. She told me that she will probably go to North Vietnam next time as there has been wide spread flooding in the area and people will need assistance.

Liila will tell you that she does what she does because it brings joy to others and herself. That it is a way of expressing unconditional love, because you are not attached to the outcome. Her ‘mothering’ journey continues to hundreds of children and the beauty in her heart shines through in the gifts she shares both in Vietnam and with her Australian audiences.