Professionals in Bradford are being given the chance to swap office life for the challenge of tackling power cuts and floods while working for Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO).

The international charity is staging an open day in Bradford City Hall on Saturday and wants people from all professions who are interested to come along and find out more.

Past members say the rewards more than make up for the temporary loss of any luxuries associated with the western world.

Bradford nurse Ian Murser spent from 1996 and 1998 in Comilla, Bangladesh, 100km east of the country's capital Dhaka.

He spent his time living and working in a diabetic hospital, passing the knowledge gained as a nurse from his time in England to nurses and care assistants.

He said: "Go to the VSO open day, talk to the people and find out what it's all about.

"It was like living on a roller-coaster, you never knew what would happen from one day to the next.

"There were days when I thought it was great and days when I hated it, but never a day when I felt like throwing in the towel."

One of the hardest aspects of the work to get used to, said Mr Murser, was being treated like a celebrity. People in the town were desperate to find out more about him and other VSO workers.

"A large part of the experience depends on how you are received, they seemed to like me,"he said.

"In Comilla the people were very generous and hard working and they invited the VSO workers into their homes, always feeding us even though they were very poor."

A major part of his work was to ensure the benefits oof it continued to be felt in the long term.

He set up training schemes to improve knowledge and standards in a town where power cuts were an everyday occurrence and water was collected from a pump every morning.

He said language could be another barrier, but courses provided by VSO before the trips helped overcome these problems.

VSO staff and returned volunteers will be in the City Hall from 10am until 4.30pm to answer questions and show presentations.

For more information ring 020 8780 7500.