The Head of Clinical Services at Telford-based care company The Complete Group has recently returned from a "fantastic, but heartbreaking" volunteering trip to Africa.

Jo Cooper, who has now made four trips to the continent, spent three weeks in Kenya this August with the volunteering organisation African Impact.

During her trip she joined 15 volunteers at Limuru, a mountain town around 90 minutes from Nairobi.

While there, she worked alongside staff of a local clinic diagnosing, treating and counselling patients with conditions ranging from coughs and colds to TB, HIV and Aids, cholera, typhoid and malaria - as well as the victims of stabbings, rapes and attacks with rocks.

Jo, who also spent time educating the staff, said: "There was no appointment system so it was normal to arrive to find 300 people queuing to be seen, some of them local and some who had travelled up to eight miles to get there.

"There was no water or sanitation at the clinic, so keeping things sterile was challenging!

"Expectant mother would walk there, on their own, along dirt roads to give birth with no analgesia and then walk home again, an hour after their babies were born."

While in Limuru she also helped give out food parcels to more than 450 homeless elderly people, a task which she says was particularly distressing.

Risking rival gangs and unusually cold temperatures, Jo also spent time in the huge Kibera slum in Nairobi vaccinating under-fives against measles, mumps, polio and meningitis in a Government funded programme.

Despite the desperate conditions, Jo is determined to return to the country and is already planning a trip next year.

She said: "I will never forget the singing and dancing, hugs and kisses and the joy and heartbreak that comes from a summer volunteering.

"The street kids just longed for a cuddle and some food and we were desperately trying to show them that not all grown-ups want to hurt them.

"Despite their desperation and poverty, they greet you with a big smile and huge hug. They are beautiful."

Jo is hoping the trip will raise much needed awareness about the impact of volunteering in Africa.

"You can feel very guilty about how fortunate we are but we can all raise awareness and do what we can to help," she added.