A Shipley missionary has given up life in rainswept Britain to help poverty stricken tribespeople in one of the driest spots on earth.

Jenny Hall, daughter of well-known Shipley aid worker Kathy Tedd, will spend the next two years helping to improve agriculture and livestock in Abalak in Niger, on the edge of the Sahara Desert.

The former Bradford Girls Grammar School pupil and her husband Ian, 31, were chosen by international charity Tearfund. They will become part of a community project to introduce a better standard of living for the Tuareg nomads.

The area is suffering from long-term drought, overuse and deforestation and the couple will help to maintain two wells, which will involve digging by hand, and introduce a literacy and health project to the people.

Kathy Tedd said: "She's always longed to be able to help in Africa. I'm very proud. She felt as a Christian that this was what God wanted her to do with her life. I would far rather my children were doing something scary but of great benefit to other people."

The pair will spend two months studying the languages of French and Tamasheq before starting work on the project which has been funded by Tearfund for the last eight years.

A spokesman for the charity said: "The work that Jenny and Ian will be doing will help the Tuareg people to continue with their way of life despite the desertification and effects of frequent droughts. Jenny and Ian will have difficulties as Westerners and will have to adapt to a very different way of life."

Jenny was a frequent attender at St Peter's Church, Shipley, before moving to Aberdeen to study for her degree in Tropical Environmental Science. During that time, she worked in Madagascar and then she worked in Kenya while studying for her Masters degree in Agronomy.

She said: "I always dreamed of working on a project like this."

Ian, who was in charge of district nurses in Nottingham before attending Bible College in Nantwich, said: "I am looking forward to what lies ahead of us."

The Reverend Chris Edmondson, vicar of St Peter's who married the couple, said: "I'm just thrilled that they are taking up what's going to be a very big challenge - it will be very remote but they will be doing some very practical work through the Tearfund. We're supporting them through our prayers and letters and, along with others, financially."

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