Headlee, 54, couldn't turn away from it. She has always had a Size XXXL heart. Her empathy was aroused when she was a child watching images of starving children on TV. As a young adult, she ventured to Mexico from her San Diego home to work in orphanages or renovate houses, and once moved a family into her home that had been living in a garage. She traveled to South America and India to do similar work, and, after seeing a story on "60 Minutes" about orphans in Romania, she made 13 trips to that country to work. Headlee, with four children of her own, eventually adopted a Romanian child.

Now she has turned her efforts to Africa, and her work and dedication are infectious. After hearing a 30-second interview that Headlee did on National Public Radio, a stranger called and offered her $10,000. After reading a story in the Deseret Morning News three years ago, a man sent her a check for $60,000. Others volunteer their muscles. Each year 75 to 100 people from Utah volunteer to travel with her to Africa, at their own expense, to assist her work. She relies on private donations, some of them coming through her Web site, motherswithoutborders.org.

For Headlee, it's all too personal and urgent. While wandering in a village one day she met a young boy who was staggering through the streets with ghastly swollen hands and feet and face, dying of AIDS. She picked him up and carried him to her facility. He died the next day.

They're not all hopeless cases. Anthony lived on the streets for four years before Headlee finally persuaded him, after several attempts, to let her put him in a boarding school, at the age of 13. He's 18 now and recently placed second in a national math-science competition. He plans to become a doctor and help people in his country. Evann was 12 when Headlee found him living in a chicken run. He wants to become a pilot.

"They're no different than kids over here," she says. "They have hopes and dreams. They see billboards in town and the TVs in shop windows; they know how we live here. They know about houses with TV and running water and toilets. They want to succeed and contribute."

Headlee has dedicated her life to helping them do just that.

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Doug Robinson's column runs on Tuesday. Please send e-mail to drob@desnews.com.