A WIMBORNE nurse headed to Uganda is asking for help to fulfil an orphan's dream.

Jackie Simmons will be the head nurse for Wellspring Children's Medical Centre in Kamatuuza when it opens in November, run by the charity Just Care.

Jackie, 62, who has spent most of her career working in hospitals and medical facilities in developing countries, was inspired to join the project after learning about it through a woman at her church in Wimborne.

The charity helps 1,000 orphans in its care and the newly-built medical facility is next door to the orphanage.

Jackie said that during her initial visits out to the facility, she met Rebecca, an 18-year-old orphan whose dream is to undertake nursing training.

Jackie explained that the orphanage could help children up to the age of 16 and Rebecca's sponsorship from families in the West had ended when she turned 18.

Young adults are then left alone to try and find some work and somewhere to stay.

"Rebecca is desperate to be a nurse. It's going to cost £3,000 for the three years, £1,000 a year. We are hoping that when the time is right she will take over the medical centre or someone like her will, five or six years down the line," she said.

"Rebecca escaped from Rwanda with an aunt. Her parents, brothers and sisters were killed in the Tutsi uprising. Her aunt is now dead too. They came over the border into Uganda."

She said if they could find some way of covering the fees, Rebecca would train at Masaka Hospital in Uganda, then return to the hospital to work for Dr Pauline Hutchinson, a Cheshire woman who will run the medical centre where running water is still a luxury.

The centre aims to transform the lives of thousands of village children by providing free general health care, vaccination programmes, health education, AIDS outreach and acute malaria care.

If you can help, email paulinehutchinson@mac.

com