A BATH student was so moved by the plight of children she met when visiting a Romanian orphanage in July that she is determined to go back there to work as a volunteer.

Rebecca Mitchell, 19, worked with the 350 poverty-stricken children at the Brosov Orphanage where she plans to return with a friend next year.

She said: "I can't wait to return and intend to spend the whole summer over there next year. One of my friends is coming with me.

"This summer I did not want to leave the orphanage. Working there was such an emotional experience, but I am determined to return."

The trainee teacher, who is studying at Bath Spa University College in Newton Park, will be working as a volunteer for Worksop-based charity Poplars.

The charity sends voluntary workers to orphanages and hospitals to help deprived children in the former communist state.

Miss Mitchell, of Lipyeate in Coleford, will be raising funds for her air fare to Romania after Christmas with a part-time job.

She said: "I need to raise around £200 for a return flight."

Miss Mitchell worked for the charity Poplars during her two-and-a-half week stay, in July, and wants to return to the same orphanage.

She stayed in a purpose-built house for volunteers in Sinpegro and worked closely with babies aged up to six months old in the orphanage which houses 350 children.

She said: "It was very rewarding. I became very attached to a little boy named Bogdan. There was another child who was quite quiet when we arrived, but who by the end of our stay had started playing and came out of herself."

Miss Mitchell had to overcome the initial shock of poverty when she first arrived and discovered that there is still a shortage of equipment in Romania's hospitals.

She said: "It was quite a shock, much different to what I had expected. There was a lot of poverty and begging on the streets."

"The hospitals are just beginning to get the right equipment and the nurses are actually beginning to care for the kids, not just doing their duty."

The children in the Brosov Orphanage rely on donations from English and American agencies.

Miss Mitchell was inspired to visit Romania by her mother Kathy's previous visits to the country.

Mother and daughter visited Brosov together for the first time this summer and share a determination to help Romanian children.

Miss Mitchell said: "We both feel strongly about the situation there. On the day we got back my mum booked another flight out there at Christmas."

Writhlington School teacher Kathy Mitchell has visited Romania three times.

Mrs Mitchell said: "It was excellent last time to see that conditions have improved. The Romanians are making huge efforts."

Many of the parents of the children in the orphanage cannot afford to look after them.

Rebecca said: "Some parents give up their children because they are young and having children at a young age isn't the done thing in Romania. Other children come from gypsy families.

"I got used to Romania's poverty, but I found it hard to understand how the children's parents gave them up."

She witnessed heart-rending scenes when families visited their children at Brosov.

She said: "A few parents came to visit their children for just five minutes. It was obvious that sheer poverty was behind their decision to put their children there."

She said she would encourage anyone who loves working with children to visit Romania and help in the orphanages.