On October 27th, myself and 15 other volunteers will be flying to Johannesburg, South Africa and then travelling north east to the Limpopo region, and close to the border with Mozambique.

In this part of South Africa, 57% of children under the age of 18 have experienced some form of violence - mostly sexual - in the last 12 months. In this area, parents work all day, but the children only attend nursery and pre-school until lunchtime, leaving them wandering the streets and vulnerable to horrific abuse in the afternoons. Incredibly, this abuse usually comes from someone they know. The creche we are helping to build will provide somewhere safe for the children to go until their parents can collect them. They also get fed, and for some of them it's the only hot meal they get each day.

The project is being co-ordinated by international charity World Vision, who have already built 42 schools, 24 creches, and 24 drop-in centres in the province. They work closely with the local people as well as overseas volunteers to ensure the projects they fund are of lasting value to the African communities.

We have to raise at least £3,000 each, and then we will actually work on the creche in what will be very difficult conditions because of the heat, humidity and limited resources available. We're looking forward to the challenge, though! So far I've raised around half of the money, through cake sales and donations.

I would LOVE your help to raise more - the money raised so far is already being put to good use but the more we raise - the more good we can do. Thanks in advance!!