Posted 16 Feb 2010

Kerry Watson was so moved after volunteering in Kenya in 2007 that she decided to take a career break to set up an orphanage.

Taking a career break three years on, Ms Watson is about to see that dream become a reality.

The preparation of the Footprints Orphanage in Majimboni village, in the Shimba Hills region of Kenya, is in the final stages and the facility will soon be able to take its first children, the Burton Mail reports.

Ms Watson took a career break from her job with Thomson Travel in Burton, England, to fulfil the project and will be returning to Kenya at the end of the month to meet with government officials to complete the final paperwork.

Speaking to the newspaper, Ms Watson said: "I feel very proud and very emotional. It’s fulfilled my life and put so much more meaning into it to be out there doing what I’m doing."

Ms Watson recently returned to the UK after spending Christmas in Majimboni with her teenage daughter, Lauren.

In 2007, the number of Kenyan orphans was estimated at 2.5 million, according to statistics published by UNICEF.

Category: Living Abroad, Africa