BRADFORD grandmother Razia Amini has got it all sewn up when it comes to charity work.

The 55-year-old, of Heaton, is getting set for her next aid trip to Africa - this time taking a cargo of sewing machines with her.

Mrs Amini, whose last shipment went out to the Gambia and included 100 bikes for schoolchildren, has plans to open a sewing centre in a new community in remote and poverty-stricken Burkina Faso.

She will be setting off in early June with two other women from national aid charity Humanity First, which she has been supporting for 14 years.

As well as collecting donations of new, used and working sewing machines she needs to raise enough funds to pay for a sewing teacher to run the centre for at least six months to get it up and running. The wage will be about £50 a month, she said.

"The idea is for women in the new village to be taught sewing skills so they can fix and make their own clothes and create other garments that they can then go on to sell. It's teaching them how to support themselves and their families."

Mrs Anini will also be taking donated material with her to get the women started.

Two years ago she was in Gambia's remote Gambiaff region, where she handed out school equipment including 200 desks, chairs, books and laptops.

And last year she went to a remote part of Gambia focusing on schools taking them desks, chairs, stationery, books - and bicycles as most children children there walk up to seven miles in the heat just to attend a school on a daily basis. The bikes will be school property. .

As well as relying on people's generosity, she also uses her bargain hunting and negotiating skills to find items for her aid collections from mugs and plates to unwanted furniture and old computers and once 800 pairs of shoes from a Gambian wholesale market.

"This time I'm taking a 40ft container, twice as big as in the past," Mrs Amini said.

"I've still got about half to fill so I'm hoping people will be very kind and help."

She added: "This will be the first time I've been to Burkina Faso but I've heard it is very, very poor and they desperately need our help."

To make a donation, call Mrs Razia on 07889 524557 or e-mail razia.amini@hotmail.co.uk.