A WOMAN who has completed her first year with a Hereford charity is off to see the work it does first-hand.

Alexandra Sherry, marketing and communications assistant with aid charity Concern Universal, travelled to Malawi for a 10-day trip on Monday, where she will meet people who have been helped by the charity.

Concern Universal provides help with sanitation and teaching farming skills to generate more food.

Alexandra, aged 30, described Concern Universal as “Hereford’s best kept secret”.

Established in 1976, the charity helps more than 1.5 million people each year in nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This channels about £15 million per year to support community-led development. Alexandra, a former journalist, decided to work with the charity as she felt it would be “more fulfilling”.

She said: “I continue to learn from and be inspired by the people I work with, and the people we work for, but the thing that surprised me most was seeing how one person truly can make a difference.

“It is vital we help teach people the skills they need to sustain themselves. There is no Tesco in the middle of Malawi people can just walk to when hungry – what you grow, you eat.

“For me, it’s one thing being able to read really complex reports of the charity’s work, but it is another thing talking to the people who have been helped. It will be nice to see what all the money that we have raised has been used for.”

Alex will help distribute 250,000 mosquito nets. She will begin her journey in Lilongwe and make her way across several districts in the country where the charity has 10 offices.

She said the trip will take her further than she has ever been on her own before, and she will be using her writing and photographic skills to keep everyone updated back home.

Visit concern-universal.org/ blog/?p=421 for Alex’s blog, where she will answer questions.

More information is available at concern-universal.org.