SHEILA Johnson will be working with some of the poorest people in the world when she leaves for the challenge of a lifetime today.

Freelance journalist Sheila, 50, from The Reddings, in Cheltenham, is travelling to Addis Ababa, in Ethiopia, to raise the profile of a charity project.

The Integrated Holistic Approach Urban Development Project is directed by Ethiopian Jember Teferra, who has been called a modern-day Mother Teresa.

The charity project has transformed the lives of more than £500,000 people by providing food, clothing, housing, education, health and employment.

Sheila, who will be spending a week in Africa, heard about the charity through Glenfall Church, of which she is a member.

She said: "I'm excited and apprehensive. I've been to Africa before, but only to Tunisia and Morocco. This will be very different.

"I've seen poverty on the TV but never face-to-face. We will be going into slum areas as well as seeing the areas that have been brought out of poverty by the project.

"I'm going on the trip because I feel I want to make a difference in my life.

"I want to confront poverty and try and do something. The trip is about raising the profile of the charity."

Sheila has written articles about the project in the past and reported on the charity's activities at annual conferences in Cheltenham.

This is the first time she will be able to see for herself how the charity's work has helped change lives.

She will be accompanied on the trip by Steve Cahill – a teacher at Dean Close School, in Cheltenham, – and Ben and Lucy Booth, from Pittville. To find out more about the project, visit www.ihaudp.org