TEN members of the congregation from Great Malvern Priory will be visiting Africa to help build a school classroom and a concrete water tank.

The team is taking part in an initiative organised by the charity Go Make A Difference, a charity which promotes development in east Africa.

They will be visiting the vast Church of Kenya Marsabit diocese, in the north of Kenya. Most of the diocese, which is the size of England, is desert or semi-desert.

The classroom will be built at an isolated village in the desert, a place that at present has no school. The water tank will be at the district headquarters of Marsabit, located on a mountain in the desert. Members of the group will also be involved in a women's health programme.

The whole project is at the invitation of the Bishop of Marsabit, Rob Martin, who visited Great Malvern Priory a few weeks ago.

The area is familiar to one member of the Priory team, Dr David Webster, whose father was the first missionary to Marsabit, in 1931.

Dr Webster grew up there, and later returned to the area in the 1970s, when he was appointed Medical Officer of Health to the district.

He said: "We are all looking forward to visiting Marsabit, although for me it's a bit of a homecoming. The priory has had links with the diocese for a long time, and we've been supporting Rob Martin since 2008."

The team will be in Marsabit for up to five weeks, starting on October 3, and expect life to be fairly basic and very hot.

Team members are paying their own expenses, but they are hoping, through various events, to raise the costs of the building materials, £5,000 in all.

Donations will be welcome, with £5 buying a bag of cement, a sheet of corrugated iron, or four timbers. Donations can be made to Great Malvern Priory PCC and earmarked Marsabit Fund. Donations can attract Gift Aid.