A DETERMINED aid worker has spoken of the two years she spent battling to help people in war zones and some of the poorest areas of the world.

Kathryn Ogden, whose parents, Peter and June, live in Castle Road, Colne, endured a 'baptism of fire' after joining the French-based charity Action Against Hunger.

Her first assignment was in war-torn Chechenya at the height of the civil war against Russia. She was based just two hours drive from the bombed and battered capital Grozny. In September, 1996, Kathryn, 36, was transferred to Liberia, which was also being torn apart by war although the conflict ended at the beginning of last year.

Kathryn, who attended Sacred Heart RC Primary School, Colne, works as a nutritionist for the aid charity, co-ordinating food, seed and farming equipment distribution in some of the poorest regions in the world.

She joined Action Against Hunger as one of its 270 volunteer field-workers whose day-to-day responsibility is making sure women and children are given the most basic of human rights - the right to food. She was one of the first English recruits to the French organisation. "When they told me I was going to Chechenya I wondered what I was letting myself in for," said Kathryn. "I never went into Grozny, but the situation there was very tense. If the situation becomes too dangerous then we are evacuated. There is a risk and you never know from day-to-day what lies ahead, but security is a top priority and we are very careful."

Kathryn's main responsibility in Liberia was managing the distribution in rural areas of seeds and tools to 7,000 families, to give them the chance to re-build their lives.

When she arrived the country was in an emergency situation, but by the time of her departure the malnutrition rate was down so much the emergency was over and the area was in the rehabilitation stage.

"Conditions were difficult," she admitted. "You have to be prepared to accept not having electricity or hot water. You have to adapt to the way local people live. We worked six days a week, but we managed to get one day off a week to enjoy relaxing on the beach."

Kathryn is planning to contact Action Against Hunger at the end of this month to find a new challenge. "I'm not sure where it will be," she said. "Now I've got experience of different situations it really depends on the programme and the type of work that's available.

"When you are working in difficult conditions you need a break."

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