For the past several years, tattoo artist Benjamin Lloyd from Tauranga has been dropping by the Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland to give kids temporary, realistic tattoos.
His aim is to lift young spirits and make hospital life more fun, and it seems to be working.
Using an airbrush gun and non-toxic ink to apply the temporary tats, parents need not fear as the ink simply washes off in the shower!
That escalated quickly
Ben originally pledged to give all the kids at Auckland’s Starship Children’s Hospital temporary tattoos if he received 50 likes.
Half a million likes later and suddenly it wasn’t just a fun day out anymore!
Ben said he had painted fake tattoos on several children and he got the idea of going to Starship Hospital after he saw the smiles the designs produced.
"It's just the confidence they get - especially the boys they walk around so proud, you put art on them and they're just so excited they can choose their own designs.
"They're so fascinated while they're getting it, they're so happy with it." Ben told the NZ Herald.
“Nothing brings me more joy than boosting kids’ confidence with a custom tattoo,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “The only bad thing is that they don’t want to take a shower afterward!”
Fair play to Ben for bringing smiles to these kids’ faces and the fact that another warm-hearted Kiwi story has gone around the world shows just how awesome this wee country is!
