A DISTRICT nurse from Upton who is preparing to return to her volunteer work in Uganda says the contrast between health care here and what she has experienced in the poverty-stricken African nation could not be greater.

Pam LLewellyn, 60, had spent many years working as a nurse in Worcestershire and Warwickshire before taking a huge career change by signing up with VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) to work in Uganda last year.

She spent 10 months of last year away, returning just before Christmas, and is now preparing for a return visit lasting at least six months.

“It is very different over there,” said Mrs Llewellyn. “I went out as a community nurse to try and improve the health in the villages, specifically tackling malaria and HIV.

“It is a very poor area, and it was quite an adjustment when I got out there. The contrast with back home could not be greater. We have everything and they have nothing.

“There is no transport, there are often no nurses in the hospitals and all the little things that we take for granted are just not there.”

A large part of Mrs Llewellyn’s work in Uganda was to give healthcare training to almost 100 local volunteers.

“The whole idea of VSO is that you go and set up a project and leave behind something that is workable and can carry on without you,” she explained.

Ahead of her return Mrs Llewellyn is trying to raise £10,000 to subsidise the purchase of mosquito nets for every household in the area she has been working.

“Malaria is a really big problem over there, but it is something that is preventable,” she said. “They need malaria nets, but they cannot afford to buy them.”

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