Richard Betts with his wife Kellie and children Noah (in cab), Zach and Ruby [Baptiste Giroudon]

A TAXI driver is returning to Africa to support a charity tackling HIV and Aids.

Richard Betts, 51, who lives in Caledonian Road, first volunteered for the Kick4Life Football Club in 2013 after his cousins Steve and Pete Fleming set it up in 2006 with the aim of transforming lives in Lesotho through football.

Twenty-five per cent of the population have HIV or Aids in Lesotho, a landlocked independent country in South Africa, which has led to a high number of orphans.

Mr Betts, who has so far raised £2,350 for the charity, said: “Kick4Life has actually helped out about 200,000 children, helping to educate them because for many, the people of Lesotho don’t really know there’s treatment. So a lot of the time they when they get HIV and Aids they immediately think it’s a death sentence.”

Richard Betts in Africa in 2013

He added: “There’s a lot of myths and a lot of these people would go to witch doctors and stuff to get treatment and they would be told ‘eat fruit and vegetables, that will cure you’ or ‘sleep with a virgin’ – that was another one that will cure you.”

The charity, which is based in Lesotho, has branches in America and the UK, and boasts model and Hollywood actor Tyson Beckford as an ambassador.

Aside from its sporting successes, Kick4Life has tested 25,000 children for HIV and of the 1,000 who tested positive, they have funded their treatment and counselling.

Tyson Beckford [John Mathew Smith/ www.celebrity-photos.com]

Father-of-four Mr Betts, who has been married to his wife Kellie for 25 years, plans to fly out as part of the fundraising football tour taking place over 10 days in March.

He joked: “The kids are happy about me going but they’ll miss me – not sure the wife will! But she’s proud.”

And recalling his last time out there, he said: “It’s just humbling, you know. I tend to go around and speak to the kids and get to know them a little bit more. They’re so lovely and kind and a lot of them are orphans, so it’s just a very basic lifestyle.

“So for me, it just makes me appreciate what I’ve got and how lucky I am.

“But also how happy these kids are with what they do have.”

• To contribute visit: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/richard-betts9