Mandurah not-for-profit business launches 'The Justice Box'

Now she's a mum, wife and school teacher living a "privileged" life in Mandurah, Western Australia, far from that dire poverty.

But she is often still brought to tears by the memories of what she saw growing up in South Africa - entire families living in one room and cleaning themselves from a bucket.

"We would find people in their faeces, literally, who had been sent home from hospital with a catheter in, that hadn't been changed in three weeks," she said.

She worked with a big-hearted nurse - aptly named Theresa - who trained her to go shack to shack caring for the terminally ill.

"It was a shock and really confronting to see," she said.

But the biggest shock was moving to Australia aged 16 and seeing the contrast.

"Over here there was Centrelink, Medicare and so many non-profit organisations to keep people out of that desperate position," she said.

"You're not going to die in your faeces here.

"I struggled because I couldn't believe the way people lived here.

"I am so profoundly aware of the privilege I have living here and even though Africa will always hold the dearest place in my heart, I am determined to use this privilege of mine to help others."

Last year Laura launched a non-profit called For the Love of Justice which has run retreats, events, advocacy and education in Western Australia and beyond.

One of her first projects to launch was 'The Justice Box', a gift hamper full of Western Australian - mostly Mandurah - products.

"When I launched the boxes, we were going through the peak of the pandemic where businesses and people's livelihoods were totally affected," she said.

"It was so great to be able to help these businesses in a small way."

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She partnered with WA charity Foxglove Project and sent the earnings from the first lots of sales to help 300 'pavement dwellers' in India.

A fortnight ago she held a clothes swap-style event called The Washing Line in Mandurah to raise money for refugees.

She also held a retreat in Margaret River in October that attracted mostly Mandurah women, with money going to charity A21 to help women rehabilitate following sex and human trafficking.

Late last year she hiked 135km along the Cape to Cape track in the Margaret River region with her new husband, Mark and their daughter to raise $3500 for OVIS Community Services.

She says she chose the Mandurah-based charity because of her own experience as a victim of domestic abuse.

"That walk was the first time I put my story of domestic violence out into the public to a large audience."

When she was 21, Laura moved back to South Africa but fled back to Australia as a single mum just a few years later to seek refuge with her family, after escaping a domestic violence relationship.

"I had to put my head down as a single mum," she said. "I went back to university and was working three jobs at one point."

She said her parents Frank and Shelley Gray had always been her biggest supporters.

"I wouldn't be where I am today without them - through my journey from the start, as a solo mum and studying, I couldn't have made it this far without them.

"Right through my healing they were there helping me, and one thing remained for me - I also wanted to help people." Fast forward to 2020, she had finished studying and "finally had the mental space" to give to it.

"I felt God prompt me and say, 'Laura it's time'. I felt this release of creativity came back and the non-profit began to evolve."

Laura remembers well the day her passion for justice started.

She was in Year 4 in primary school and several children were mocking a girl with additional needs because she was different and "didn't talk and act the way they did".

"Anger rose in me and I can remember strongly hating what was happening," Laura said.

"I befriended her and invited her home for a play date. From that day I would stand up for her if anyone tried to bully her. It's probably why I am also so passionate about empowering children and giving them a voice. I strongly dislike it when adults brush off children thinking they don't understand deep and weighty concepts - this is just not true."

Part of her anger is the racism she has witnessed - both in South Africa and Australia.

"That's what I deeply, deeply hated in my heart - that people would think badly of someone because of their skin colour," she said.

"The majority of the people I was working with in the townships (slums) are the most beautiful, peace-loving people.

"As a white Caucasian girl, many middle class people frowned upon me working in the townships. One teacher even said, 'why would you do that?'

"When I went into those townships, the need was so overwhelming but I learned to just see individuals."

Laura's passion is connecting conscious citizens to communities of change.

With a double major in teaching and social justice, Laura says she wants people to understand the impact of the things they buy - particularly fast fashion and buying from unethical companies.

"I want to bring people back to questioning what they are buying, to show them that there is a face behind what they are buying.

"They could be the face of a child in an unventilated factory - or the face of a proud local business owner, honing their craft."

Now she is developing a community program to take into schools where children learn how to help others in their local community.

"I want a child to know they don't have to wait to be an adult to make a difference," she said.

Laura is also planning the launch of Love Local, an exchange where people can reach out for help and offer their services.

Love Local will connect people who want to help - in whatever capacity they can.

"I was a solo mum and I wanted to help but there were many places that didn't allow volunteers with a child," she says.

"There might be someone going through cancer who needs a meal, a mother who needs their kid dropped at school - that's what justice is for me, meeting the person at their point of need and saying 'you matter'."

Another active retreat is planned for April with a focus on nutrition, surfing, mindfulness and nature.

She is also planning collaborations with local artists to work with kids from socio-economic needs.