Hello, I'm Dr Frank Ashall. I'm raising money for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO), one of the world's leading volunteer charitable organisations. In December 2012 I arrived in Ethiopia as a VSO volunteer to work as a professor of biochemistry, where I'm teaching medical students, undergraduate and graduate students, and hope to help develop biomedical research programmes there.

VSO supports volunteers to transfer their knowledge and skills by teaching and training people in developing countries, so that poor areas of the world can become self-sustaining. If one volunteer teaches 100 individuals and each of those teaches another 100 people, that's 10,000 people with new skills and knowledge!

For my first fundraising event, I did two hikes in the rainy summer of 2012, totalling 114 miles, in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. That took about 8 days altogether. It rained so much that I didn't encounter many people on the hike, so donations were minimal. So please consider donating to VSO, to support my work and that of other volunteers in poor countries.

I've also downloaded some songs on YouTube, which you can listen to. I'm really not the greatest singer, but it might make you smile or laugh! Or maybe you'll sing along?

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving, and they'll never sell them or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to VSO and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. It's the most efficient way to donate.