Avid Kiwi volunteer Peter Blinkhorne dies in Africa

A Kiwi who died while volunteering in Tanzania is being remembered as an outdoorsy, adventurous individual.

Peter Blinkhorne, 65, died in Nairobi Hospital in Kenya on January 10 after having a brain aneurysm while on a volunteer assignment.

His younger brother, Palmerston North local Rusty Blinkhorne, said the stroke happened on Christmas Day and he never regained consciousness.

Peter Blinkhorne, who was an accountant by profession, had worked for a number of companies overseas like Coca-Cola and locally in New Zealand before he began volunteering, his brother said.

Before his aneurysm Blinkhorne had been working as a finance and logistics administrator with the Flying Medical Services in Tanzania.

He had been with the organisation, which worked to provide access to preventative and curative health care in remote areas, for just a month.

The medical event had come as a surprise to his brother, who described him as being fit and healthy.

"He was very active. He walked, cycled, he completed marathons."

Blinkhorne's daughter Amy described him as an "outdoorsy" dad who always supported of what she did - despite her being more artistically inclined than he was.

The 30-year-old worked as a painter in Auckland.

She had visited her father while he was on assignment in the Soloman Islands and in Tonga.

She said she was always impressed by how eager he was to help others and try new things.

"On one of my visits he was trying to make a dugout canoe... it was pretty epic. He was pretty good like that - making or fixing things."

Volunteer Service Abroad chief executive Stephen Goodman described Blinkhorne as an "impressive bloke" who had committed his life to helping others.

While Blinkhorne had been working for Australian volunteering company AVI at the time of his stroke, Goodman said he was a valued member of his own organisation.

Blinkhorne had volunteered with the VSA on a total of seven different assignments, Goodman said, and worked in a range of countries including Papua New Guinea, Tanzania and Tonga.

"Ten years he operated with us... which was quite amazing really. From what I understand talking to people that very much reflected the guy.

"He was quite an impressive bloke."

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had also paid tribute to Blinkhorne in a letter of condolence sent to his family.

"We are grateful for Peter Blinkhorne's service through the Australian Volunteers for International Development program," the letter said.

"Mr Blinkhorne's long-term commitment to volunteering and his willingness to work for the betterment of others is a tribute to him."

Workers from Flying Medical Services held a small service for Blinkhorne yesterday and planted an African baobab tree at Olkokola, where he worked, in his memory.