By JOANNA LEAN

A FORMER Culcheth High School pupil is doing his bit for deprived children in Africa.

Corporal Tony Woodward, aged 39, is part of 'Project Albert', a team of ten service men who bring vital help to Kenya and Nairobi. He and his team spend their time in one of the world's worst slums, bringing joy and hope to these children. Initially the team collected toys, clothes, and furniture and sent them to the children in an attempt to make their lives more bearable and easy.

"Most tourists only see the magnificent game and the incredibly blue Indian Ocean that make East Africa one of the world's most popular tourist destinations," says Tony.

"Little or nothing is seen of the absolute poverty and suffering of the Aids stricken community in Nairobi."

He continued: "To call it a suburb gives it a status that it doesn't deserve. It's a mud and corrugated iron city, thrown together to home many of the orphaned street children with nowhere else to go."

The project has raised 1.3 million Kenyan shillings, about £9,000, in the time it has been running, raising £5,000 in the first four months. The project does not give out any money, but converts the cash raised to bricks, timber and tanks to collect water.

The people who live in these slums work for eight hours a day, under the baking African sun, doing tough, physical labour. The open sewers, rotting rubbish and smoke from the wood fires create a stench that cannot be described or prepared for.

Tony says the only thing that brings hope to these children is that Project Albert will help them. A primary school has been set up, and it currently educates more than 1,000 children. It is situated in the Muthare Valley Mud City, and has great problems in feeding the children. Project Albert is constructing one of the only concrete block buildings in the valley to act as a kitchen. A sink has been included, and it is believed to be the only one in the area.

The fee to attend this school is just 40 pence per month, but many children cannot even afford that, and attend irregularly.

Tony Woodward's mother, Sheila James, lives in Warrington, and Tony is married to Lisa and their four children are aged between three and eight.