Women and children begging in the street, looking for food and dressed in rags was the harsh reality faced by Bournemouth Echo journalist Kevin Nash during a trip to Ethiopia.

Head of features Kevin, and Echo photographer Richard Crease, travelled there to find out more about the work of charity Voluntary Services Overseas, and were "humbled" by what they saw.

Kevin, (49), said: "As a journalist I realised very early on that there is a lot of injustice and people who have major obstacles to overcome, but I've never seen anything like that - it was on a much greater scale.

"The poverty was incredible, people literally had the rags they were wearing and they existed by begging and slept on the street."

During a six-day trip Kevin and Richard visited Addis Ababa and Awassa to see some of the work being done by VSO's British volunteers, which aims to make a long-term difference to the country and its people.

Kevin said: "The good thing about VSO is that they're not looking for money, or food or blankets, but for people with experience and time.

"The people I spoke to were helping to train teachers. Literacy is a big problem and only a third of the population are able to read and write and it is very male dominated.

"The Government wants every child to be in full-time education by 2015, which is quite an ambitious target."

When he first arrived not everything was as he'd expected - instead of vast deserts he saw greenary and temperatures were surprisingly similiar to Britain - but one thing he was prepared for was begging.

Kevin said: "I'd looked on a few websites before I went out which mentioned that every time you set out people would beg for money or for food. I wouldn't say it was a problem, it was just the way it was.

"I had an idea in my mind that I wouldn't give, but later on gave money to a young woman with a baby."

His experience has changed the way he acts in this country too.

"Instead of just nipping to the corner shop to get a jar of coffee I will go out of my way to buy Fair Trade coffee, because if everyone did that we'd be supporting the Ethiopian economy," he said.

"It made me think more closely about the food or clothes that I buy and there is no doubt that in the West we exploit countries in the devloping world."

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