It’s all about great music, tempting food and drink and having fun,” says Dan Carden, who is organising the Nasio Exit 7 Summer Music and Fun Day event.

Dan is just one of a growing number of young volunteers at the Nasio Trust charity based in Abingdon and Kenya.

To understand what the Nasio Trust is all about, you need to go back to the year 2000 and to a farm in Kenya. Irene Mundenyo, the mother of Nancy Hunt, UK Director of the Nasio Trust, found an abandoned baby boy close to death in a field.

Irene was 79 years old, but felt compelled to care for him as there was no one else to do so, naming him Moses. She realised there would be many other children in the area like Moses, orphaned by HIV, and set up a centre in a road-side shack.

Long story short, the Nasio Trust now runs two purpose-built day care centres supporting over 300 children and young people and their community with education, meals, medical care, and sustainable income projects.

Back in Oxfordshire, Nancy started fundraising and through her work she met John Cornelius, a Police Officer who was carrying out voluntary work with young people in Berinsfield. He galvanised a group of young people into taking part in fundraising activities and took the new volunteers out to Kenya to build a kitchen roof. It was then that they realised just how powerful this experience was for these young people, and so the programme Nasio Exit 7 was born.

Nancy explained: “The project has changed the lives of over 60 Oxfordshire young people by engaging in positive activities and fundraising events culminating in volunteering in Kenya.

“Some of the young people have literally changed from heading in a negative direction towards a very positive one. And every young person, returns with a new perspective in life, whether that’s appreciating what they’ve got, or knuckling down at school to create a better future for themselves.”

One of the volunteers, Lakisha Hendy said: “My experience in Kenya really made me realise how much we have here, and helped me to appreciate the simple things in life.”

An additional bonus is the fact that the community in Kenya are giving something back to the community in Oxfordshire. “It’s a two-way relationship that is very special, where young people from the UK learn so much from children who have nothing in the material sense,” said Nancy.

Join in the charity’s music and family fun event on Saturday, July 27, in Abingdon Market Place from 10am-4pm.

If you would like to get involved at this event or in any aspect of the Nasio Trust, visit www.thenasiotrust.org or call 01235 856290.