Dear all,

It seems too good to be true but I am soon going to be boarding that plane to Latin America where I will be spending most of my three months sabbatical. Saying that I cannot wait seems like the understatement of the century!

Five of those weeks will be spent in Rio de Janeiro where I will be working a 40 hours-week for Task Brazil, a registered charity that supports kids, abandoned since birth or to the streets of Rio without any skills or prospects to improve their lives and very young mothers and their babies. I know most of you probably think it's a walk in the park (40 hour-week, French lazy working hours...) but I'm a little terrorised at the idea of facing those teenagers and toddlers in 12 straight hour working slots! Jimmy Page, of Led Zep, supported the charity from its very early stages after one of his concerts in the city, and it has now developed into an organisation that is both Rio and London based. I swear this was a coincidence, not a sneaky way for me to get into a new music career (you would believe me if you ever heard me play anything !)...

I know you get many requests but I hope you find some spare money to donate to this good cause, as little or as much as you can afford to and wish to...anything helps and, cherry on the cake, Lehman matches any money raised up to £1,000! And yes, they take credit card payments so no excuses there... The payment is also made directly to the charity so those sceptics out there will be sure that none of the money donated will fund a lavish lifestyle in Rio (in no specific order: caipirinhas, shoes/ clothes shopping, water and electricity to power the swimming pool...). 100% of the funds raised + tax of up to 28% for higher taxpayers will be used towards supporting and maintaining the projects in Brazil, so please donate generously...

Apologies for the mass approach: trying to be efficient in raising that money :) To donate, please log onto:

http://www.justgiving.com/catherinedasilva

Thanks in advance for the support and hope to see you when I return to shares stories and, why not, show off the tan...

Catherine