A teenager is swapping Mid Wales for East Africa later this year when she will head to Uganda for a 12-week voluntary placement.

Lizzie Herbert, 18, has been selected by international development charity VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to join a team working in the country for three months.

She said: “I will be living with a local family and working alongside the family in various aspects of community work.

“I will be working in education, we won’t know the exact brief until we are out there because needs are always changing.”

Lizzie has already seen how quickly needs can change, as she was originally placed with a project in Northern India before being told this week she would be going to Uganda instead.

She said: “The project I was meant to be going on has now changed to Uganda, as the need for our help in India wasn’t necessary any more.”

Lizzie is undertaking her placement through VSO’s International Citizen Service (ICS), which places young people aged 18 to 25 in communities across Asia and Africa.

They address local challenges and co-create sustainable solutions with the communities.

Although the placement, including accommodation, travel, training and immunisations, is government funded through the Department for International Development, each participant in the scheme has the challenge to raise at least £800 towards the work that VSO is doing in developing countries across the world.

Lizzie has already surpassed her fundraising target by taking on a week-long sponsored £1-a-day diet challenge and holding a successful cake and craft stall at her home near Lake Vyrnwy.

Lizzie has always wanted to volunteer abroad.

She said she decided to “go for it” after speaking to a friend who had undertaken a similar placement.

She said: “One of my friends went to Nigeria with VSO last year and when she came back she explained more about what they do, and I thought, ‘that sounds perfect for me’.

“This is a huge once in a lifetime experience to really feel culturally what life is like there and how much I take for granted.”

n To donate, go to www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lizzie-herbert