User talk:Henri.leriche

Henri Le Riche, born (1973) in Kimberley, South Africa. Middle name John. Grew up on a farm near Modder River, near the battefield of Magersfontein. Son of an Afrikaner father and mother. * Herman Richard Le Riche and mother Mika le Riche (Coetzer). Herman was a WW2 veteran, a miner when the war ended that could speak fanagalo, and later turned farmer.(Boer) His mother was from Cradock in the Eastern Cape and fluent in Xhosa.

Henri later moved with his parents to Ritchie and went to 'Laerskool Tweeriviere' selected as Head Boy(1986) at the age of 12. Went to Technical High School Kimberley, Northern Cape and lived in a hostel till age 18 and matriculated 1991. During this time he was selected as prefect in school and hostel and getting school colours in various sports and cultural associations. During his 18 years he lived in what is known as the Northern Cape.

Joined the South African Defense Force in 1993 and qualified as a paratrooper and became known as a parabat. Served as a frontline peacekeeping soldier during the toughest times in South African History. After military service worked for Denel arms company as well as MWeb, before leaving South Africa in 1998 to tour the world. He travelled to the United States and backpacked through the eastern coast, playing rugby in clubs,Providence and Albany. Arrived in London, England 1999 and worked for ITV till he became a British citizen in 2005.

Henri was an IEC Representative during the first 1994 democratic elections in his local township, Rietvale. During 1994 all South Africans could vote, even abroad. This was the only time this was allowed, and ever since South Africans abroad was denied this democratic right set in the constitution. He started the group: Petition to let South Africans Abroad vote in the 2009 General Election,on the social networking site, Facebook. The group have no affiliation to any party,but will support and help any individual or group that is willing to help fight for this cause.

Henri founded http://www.airbornesoldier.com in 1995 for scattered South African paratroopers to connect. Later he got help from ex paratrooper Trevor van der Walt on support of the website and thus Trevor became co-president/owner.

Currently Henri lives in Staines(Surrey) studying for his Masters Degree in General Management at the University of Liverpool.


 * Herman Le Riche was a allied soldier of the South African Air Force during WW2. Serving in North Africa and Italy. His brother Andrew Le Riche was a reconnaisance pilot for the Royal Air Force during WW2.