A YOUTH worker is flying thousands of miles to Cambodia to get first-hand experience of the youth projects in a developing country.

The 26-year-old former Dorchester schoolgirl Jo Hughes is a youth worker with the overseas aid agency - Catholic Relief and Development Agency (CAFOD).

Jo said she has been looking forward to the trip, which she hopes will be inspirational, for months.

She added: "Everyone had heard about the terrible atrocities that took place in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge's rule in the 1970s but I will be fascinated to see what life is like for people now.

"I think it will be an emotional experience encountering the injustices these young people are facing, but I also hope it will inspire my work when I return to the UK."

Jo will spend three weeks touring Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Mondulkiri visiting youth projects and meeting young people.

As part of her cultural experience she will also visit a HIV education centre and a Co-operative factory which makes resin.

The charity CAFOD says that nearly 36 per cent of Cambodians live below the national poverty line and in recent years the Cambodian government has sold large amounts of rural land to foreign investors, which has resulted in rural generations disintegrating.

CAFOD helps to fund these rural communities and calls on the local and national government to distribute money and resources to them.

Jo, who went to school at St Genevieve's Catholic School in Dorchester, left school and trained to be a youth worker before moving to London to work for the Catholic charity.

Jo and her parents Liz and John, of Manor Road, Dorchester, are keen members of the Holy Trinity parish in High West Street, Dorchester.