AN ex-army medic from Garston is hoping to help the poor and sick in Africa by becoming a doctor's assistant in Kenya.

Mr Stephen Ashwood, 23, of The Gossamers, is planning to work in two health clinics in Mombasa, and Malindi and supporting the local voluntary doctor who is overworked.

Mr Ashwood was made aware of others' plight because his mother, runs a Watford based charity called Lakoni which provides aid to Kenya.

In 1999, Mr Ashwood, a former pupil of Queen's School in Bushey, accompanied his mother on one of her trips, visiting orphanages, taking people to hospital and providing general medical help to the villagers.

It was during this visit that he saw the difference between the affluence of England and the extreme poverty of Kenya and it made a significant impression.

He said: "I can't explain what I felt when I saw just how prevalent illness and poverty was. To see people of my own age on the streets with little clothing was upsetting."

The culture shock prompted him to find a way to help.

Four weeks ago, Mr Ashwood travelled to Kenya to provide a village football team with a full set of shirts. Blackpool FC sponsored the strip because the Kenyan village was named after the Lancashire town. The Kenyan team was so poor that the players shared boots; half the team wore a left boot and the other half a right.

During a football match, on a makeshift pitch of sand and rocks, Mr Ashwood met the local doctor. He explained that he worked on a voluntary basis, 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. Being medically trained, Mr Ashwood offered to assist him in his work.

The aid work in Kenya will involve treating patients who suffer from AIDS, Malaria and Jiggers a parasite that buries itself in the victim's foot that could cause fatal internal damage.

Mr Ashwood said: "The World Bank estimates that 40 per cent of all Kenyan citizens have HIV or AIDS an increase of 13 per cent in 1999. One of the main factors attributed to this rise is the lack of education on the virus.

"I will be running AIDS awareness programmes in the local villages, helping to address this issue and I am currently learning Swahili, to communicate better with the villagers.

"Many villagers cannot pay for the injections for diseases such as Malaria and so part of the sponsorship money raised will go towards buying medical supplies."

If the challenge of helping the sick was not enough Mr Ashwood will have a very different kind of challenge every day.

He said: " I will be working in two villages which are 80kms apart, travelling between them by bus, a journey of two and a half hours.

"I am going to live in a hut on one side of a crocodile-infested river which I will have to cross in order to reach the clinic by means of stepping stones or an old wooden boat."

He is planning to travel to Kenya at the end of June for six months but needs £2,400 sponsorship to fund the trip and cover his medical equipment and living expenses.

To sponsor Mr Ashwood contact him on 01923 894161.

June 10, 2002 17:30