While most 19 year olds are looking forward to the end of exams and planning an upcoming beach holiday, Danielle Baillie is trading in her togs for a pair of work gloves. The Varsity Lakes resident is embarking on her second missionary trip to Africa with “Caring Hands in Kenya”. Caring Hands in Kenya is an organisation that was started by two nursing students who realised the devastating state of medical care in Kenya and knew they had the ability to help. Danielle and 16 other volunteers will leave for Kenya on December 5 for a month to build bunk beds, replace broken tiles, and put up curtains in the orphanage’s maternity ward. Danielle said she wanted to focus on an orphanage in desperate need and was making it her personal goal to ensure that each child had their own bed. “At the Fiagowah Orphanage there are at least five children forced to share the same bed…we want to redo the maternity ward by replacing tiles and curtains to improve the hygiene level of the hospital,” she said. Danielle said she was spending her first Christmas away from home and would also be celebrating her 20th birthday in Kenya with more than 100 orphans. Danielle is currently studying for a double major at Griffith University and working part time on top of preparations for her three month-long trip. Her November 21 fundraiser at Cocktails and Dreams nightclub for the Fiagowah orphanage will be providing the necessary funds to buy the beds she wants to give the orphans. Inspiration stuck Danielle last year when she read an article in The Gold Coast Bulletin sold their home and moved to Kenya to improve orphanages for infants. She contacted the Budulica family and after a brief correspondence, Danielle was on her way to Africa for a month with “Mission in Action”. “I helped build a bike path for the children, handed out food in the streets, and taught at a school in the slums,” she said. If you are interested in helping Danielle and the Fiagowah orphanage, please contact her at 0404636208 or email danielle_baillie@hotmail.com