A YOUNG lady from Chagford who spent three months working at a hospital in Uganda has raised £1,500 to help malnourished children by holding a dance at Gidleigh Village Hall. Alice Wood, 19, hopes to become a doctor and is starting a medical degree in Leeds next week. She spent part of her gap year helping out in a hospital in Kagando in the South West of Uganda, and wanted to continue supporting her former colleagues after she came home. She said: ?It?s very good to be able to give something back.? Like most hospitals in Africa the facility at Kagando is private, but it has a compassionate fund to help the many who cannot afford to pay for treatment. ?We are going to send £100 a month for a year to the malnourished ward,? Alice said. She said the money will ensure that people who cannot afford to feed themselves get a decent meal. Another £300 is going to the charity Interface Uganda, the aid organisation who helped Alice to get her placement. Alice took a gap year after finishing at Okehampton College in June last year. She said the experience she gained in Uganda was much more hands on than what she could have experienced as an undergraduate here. She said: ?Most of my time I was on the maternity ward, administering drugs. ?I also went into theatre assisting an orthopedic surgeon. You just couldn?t do that here. ?It was great ? it made me know that that?s exactly what I want to be doing.? Alice raised the money to go to Uganda by working as a nurse in the Chagford area. Once in Africa she lived at the hospital in Kagando, where she paid for board and lodging. Nearly 200 people attended the dance in Gidleigh on Friday, September 7, which saw the public debut of local band The Fireblockers. A raffle was also held.