FORMER Dauntsey's student Alison Judge from Ramsbury is about to return to one of the most exotic but poorest parts of the world.

Alison, 31, quit the fast life in the City to take up a voluntary position with the little known conservation charity Azafady and work in Madagascar.

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world and lies off the southeast coast of Africa.

The island has primeval rainforest famous for its unique wildlife including lemurs.

The natural environment is at growing risk from two quarters forestry which has ravaged much the island of its hardwood trees leaving scrub and wasteland in its wake and mining which threatens huge tracts of land where multi national companies want to extract a mineral called ilmenite, which is used to make paints and toothpaste.

Azafady is a UK charity set up to work specifically in southeast Madagascar to help alleviate poverty and improve the inhabitants' wellbeing.

Alison had been working as a marketing manager in London for seven years when she learned about the work of Azafady.

She said: "I was one of those 30-plus group who had had enough of the day to day life in the City."

Alison, who had worked part-time in The Bell in Ramsbury before getting her London job, said she was not aware how bored she had become with her work until she read about the work of Azafady.

She successfully applied for a three-month assignment with the charity in Madagascar and was delighted when she was asked to return for another three months.

Alison said: "It was one of the most brilliant things I have ever done."

A surprise was to find herself working alongside another former Dauntsey's pupil and friend Kate Nicholls whose home is in Surrey.

They worked on Azafady's pioneer project helping build benches and desks for the local schools, providing water supplies and running basic health projects with the local families.

Now Alison has been asked by Azafady to return to Madagascar to head-up the pioneer team for a further six months.

Needless to say she has jumped at the chance of going back to work with the people that she admits she quickly learned to love.

She has no desire to return to an office job. She said: "This is so much more rewarding.

"The people are incredibly poor but they live in the most beautiful places."

The littoral forests that Azafady and others are hoping to persuade the developers to leave along the spectacular coastline of southeast Madagascar play a vital part in the life of the native population.

The Madagasy hunt in the forest, rely on them for firewood and use forest plants for their medicines. Some of those plants are now recognised as new treatments for diseases and illnesses including leukaemia.

The pioneer group is teaching the locals how to plant new forests of quick growing eucalyptus trees that will provide them with a sustainable form of firewood.

Alison and her colleagues are also showing the Madagasy how to improve their basic crops of rice and kasava and have introduced vegetable gardens.

Alison has no idea what her long term future will be but is content for the time being with the knowledge that for the next six months she will be working and living with her Madagasy friends.

She said: "I cannot see myself going back into some commercial profit-driven company. There is so much to be done out there and I do believe education is the key because it gives them a choice about how they live."