A deaf man is preparing to jet out to Africa to warn children about the dangers of the HIV virus which leads to Aids.

Ashton Phillip, 25, of Little Horton, has volunteered to spend a year working with deaf and hearing youngsters.

He has secured a place with Voluntary Service Overseas after being selected from hundreds of applicants who wanted to take part and will set off in August.

Ashton said: "I have wanted to volunteer to do this for five or six years. HIV and Aids is such a big problem in Africa but a lot of the deaf people do not know about the dangers."

Ashton is a keen actor and has agreed to take part in a project to educate children on the dangers of the disease through theatre.

Although signing is an international language Ashton says he expects to be working with deaf children who are not familiar with it. But he is confident he will be able to get his message across as deaf people find ways to be able to communicate.

His mother, Louisa-Jean Pierre, said: "I am very proud of him, he has always wanted to travel to help other deaf people and help people to understand the deaf culture."

Ashton decided to take part in the trip after being inspired by a deaf friend who had taken part in a VSO mission to Ghana.

But helping and supporting deaf people is already one of the major passions in his life.

He has worked as a support assistant for Thorn Park School for the deaf, where he was once a pupil, and has also launched himself into a media career working as a presenter on the VEE TV programme for the deaf on Channel Four and as a researcher for the BBC's See Hear.

He has also campaigned for the Deaf Liberation Front and the Bradford and Leeds Deaf Forum.

Ashton became deaf at the age of just 18 months after suffering a bout of pneumonia.

After attending Thorn Park School from the age of two he went on to earn a degree in graphic design from the University of Central Lancashire and is now employed as a freelance graphic and website designer.

It was while working at Thorn Park he realised how much he enjoyed working with deaf children and also became aware of how little deaf children in the UK knew about HIV and Aids.

Ashton is now waiting to hear from the VSO where his placement in Africa will be but he needs to raise a minimum of £700 to take part. He is a keen sportsman and is organising a sponsored walk and a fancy dress football match with his friends at the Leeds Deaf Social Club.

Anyone who wants to sponsor Ashton can post cheques payable to Youth for Development, to 317 Putney Bridge Road, London, SW15 2PN, quoting his name and reference number 685957.