Campaigner giving talk on global poverty | Oamaru News | Local News in Oamaru

Former Waitaki Boys' High School deputy head boy Neill Ballantyne will return to his hometown this month to raise awareness about international poverty.

Mr Ballantyne, 21, who has been studying at the University of Otago, will present a free multimedia display on Monday, November 22 from 8pm to 9.30pm.

It will be held at the Waitaki Boys' auditorium.

Organised by the Oamaru Altrusa Club, the evening will include a talk by Mr Ballantyne about his work with the Global Poverty Project.

"It is fashioned along An Inconvenient Truth... What that did for climate change this will do for poverty," he said.

"The purpose of this presentation is not to raise money, but rather to raise awareness and hopefully promote action towards poverty relief."

Mr Ballantyne found out about the organisation last year during a launch tour and is now the Dunedin activation manager.

He put together Dunedin's inaugural presentation at the Town Hall in August last year and has since travelled to Peru on a trip called the Bus For World Youth.

"Seeing the poverty in Peru kept my motivation and energy up to work to combat poverty," he said.

The presentation will discuss international research on extreme poverty and simple things people can do to combat it.

Mr Ballantyne said he had followed Oamaru's response to the Project HHH - Hearts and Hands for Haiti and thought it had been amazing.

"It's exciting ... I was so proud of my hometown," he said.

"It's about building and getting more understanding about these issues."

He will graduate this year from Otago University with a BA and is considering a career with the United Nations.