Twins from from Parkside School, Cullingworth, will travel to Africa next week to help set up an orphanage with their mother.

The girls, Gillian and Marion Matley, 14, of George Street, Denholme, are to spend three and a half weeks with mother June, in Mpika, Zambia. They leave next Wednesday.

As well as sightseeing, the trio aim to establish an orphanage in Mpika -- a town where Aids is rife.

The trip is a result of June's strong friendship with Jenny Musakanya, who originates from Mpika, but who came to West Yorkshire to look after her sick brother.

Jenny, who is a trained Aids worker, is travelling with the Matleys, but will then stay on to oversee the building of the orphanage.

June met Jenny through a Mormon Church, in Leeds, and when June heard of the drought Mpika suffered in 2002, she began selling clothes from stalls in Denholme to raise funds for those affected.

Jenny's parents were on the brink of starvation said June.

"We needed to do something and started collecting bits of stuff to sell," she added.

The concept proved to be a success and with the support of local churches, June opened the Mpika Relief Fund shop, in Commercial Street, Denholme, in December 2004. The Mpika Relief Fund has since achieved charitable status and sent a 40ft container of clothes to the town last month.

June said: "The place will be called the Mpika Village of Hope orphanage and we've already earmarked 20 of the most vulnerable children.

"Lots of children there have no proper home and no parents. There's a missing generation because of the Aids crisis. One in five children are infected.