A KIDDERMINSTER NHS worker will fly out to Africa next month to help extend a training centre for orphans.

For 50-year-old Su Curtis, it will be the first time she has been involved in such a project, having been inspired to participate after hearing a presentation on the scheme only at the beginning of this year.

The mother-of-two and grandmother of one works on a one-to-one basis with people as a member of the Learning Disability Community Team based at Kidderminster's Woodfield House.

She believes the skills she employs in her day job will be a useful asset during her month-long stay in Zambia on the Hands Around the World project in the second phase of the scheme to develop the training centre for the orphans.

Mrs Curtis will be among a group of eight voluntary workers travelling out from the UK to Chisamba, which is an hour and a half north of the capital, Lusaka, but is the only one from Kiddermin-ster.

The Hands Around the World charity's philosophy appealed to her. "Their ethos is to give a hand, not a handout," she explained.

"That means giving the communities assisted the ability to sustain the help they are given, rather than providing one-off contributions.

"We are going to be living and working with the local people", said Mrs Curtis, who added: "The charity does organise a mix of skills.

"I do all my own DIY so I'm pretty handy at the social skills. I also have the community skills."

Looking forward to the trip, she said: "I'm very excited about it. I'm counting down the days."

To pay their way on the trip, group members have had to raise a total of £13,500. The final fund-raising event, a jumble sale, takes place at Kidderminster's Franche Community Centre on Saturday between 11am and 1pm.

More information on Hands Around the World can be found on the website, www.hatw.org.uk