The power of colour

Happy Rooms joy helps alumna transform lives

Iris Landa spreads joy to those who least expect it. Her ministry began after the death of her husband of 30 years. Transforming her family room from mostly brown to lime green, orange and yellow colours “changed my life. It enabled me to go from darkness to light.” And it’s taken her to some of the poorest places in the world. Happy Rooms so impressed a government official in a historic country town in Jianxi Province, he wanted to help spread creativity-and-colour projects across China. “I kept hearing, ‘Iris, you’ve planted a seed and it will grow into a mighty tree.’ Before I left, it had already sprouted.” Iris has now directed more than 40 Happy Rooms in 11 countries.

A primary education graduate who moved from classroom teaching to student affairs, Iris would retire as Director of Academic Advising at La Sierra University (Riverside, California, USA) in 2007. Helping hundreds of students into professional programs and seeing them accomplish their goals—as she did with a master’s in curriculum and instruction—is one of her most significant professional achievements. Reflecting on her life of service brings “a sense of enormous gratitude.”

Iris grew up attending the Sale Seventh-day Adventist church in Victoria. The exciting event of the year: Big Camp at Nunawading. “I loved watching videos about Avondale and dreamed of attending.” After high school, she worked for two years to make it a reality. “I loved Fridays: potato soup and sweet bread for dinner and deeply moving song services for vespers.” She connected with Paul Landa while working in the library. “Two years later we married.”

The Class of 1961 honours Iris Landa for her investment in the emotional wellbeing of communities in need.