TV judge to be charity ambassador

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The gruesome discovery of a dead girl dumped in a rat-infested Mumbai rubbish bin has led New Zealand's Next Top Model judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree to help slum children in India.

Australian Joanne Whittles was in Mumbai last year when she went to throw a piece of paper in a railway rubbish bin and found the body, dumped and partly eaten by rats.

Distressed by the discovery, Ms Whittles became a volunteer for the British-based Railway Children charity, which focuses on providing aid to thousands of homeless children who live in poverty.

She also reached out to New Zealand model, actor and reality TV judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree for help. He has agreed to become an ambassador for the charity.

His work will be to highlight the plight of the children and try to fundraise.

Ms Whittles said that after finding the girl, who was about three years old, she went back to her hotel.

"That night in my very lovely hotel I was wandering around in the lobby, kind of lost and Colin's movie Love Has No Language was playing," she said.

The film is the story of a Maori man, played by Shortland Street's Ben Mitchell and an Indian migrant, played by Celine Jaitley, a former Miss India Universe. The movie was filmed mainly in Auckland, with Mathura-Jeffree also starring.

"Something about him made me realise I had to go on," Ms Whittles said. So she tracked down Mathura-Jeffree's details and sent him an email, but mentioned nothing at all about the charity.

"I just said this was a fantastic film and thanked him for being in it."

Ms Whittles said she did not expect a reply from the judge of New Zealand's Next Top Model, but he emailed her back saying that it was wonderful to hear from her.

"He asked me what I was doing in Mumbai," she said. There was then a lot of "to- ing and fro-ing" of information about the charity.

Mathura-Jeffree lives in Auckland, but says he loves Mumbai. "My heart is there".

"Having modelled for years in India you couldn't help but see the railway children. You can walk out of a five-star hotel, the most luxurious hotels and parties and events and you walk straight into squalor."

Ms Whittles organised a funeral for the girl, and had Love Has No Language, carved on the plaque. "It just seemed fitting," she said.

- © Fairfax NZ News