WHEN Pat Prendergast flies on an aid mission to Africa in a fortnight, he will be carrying the hopes of a community.

The Blunsdon builder will be visiting Hargeisa, the capital of the unrecognised republic of Somaliland and the former home of up to 400 Swindon residents.

It is located to the north of war-torn Somalia and houses at least six refugee camps where thousands of families huddle in wooden huts without clean water.

One local who knows the struggle of life as a displaced person is Hassan Nur, 43, chairman of the Somali community in Swindon.

He fled from Hargeisa to Ethiopia in 1988 and was one of the lucky Somalians to find a flight to Britain.

He said: "I left but my mother and my sister spent six years in a refugee camp.

"There are thousands of people waiting in the north and in Somalia for the fighting to stop, but there is little sign of that."

The political arrangements in the Horn of Africa are mind-boggling, but the results of civil war and state-backed fighting have a familiar ring to the people living on the ground.

Mammoth refugee camps mark the frontiers of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, and the intervention of warlords means aid cannot be easily distributed to those facing starvation and disease.

That is why Pat is embarking on a charity trip to Somaliland from June 3 to 10, and why he hopes to raise enough money to take Hassan with him.

Pat, 55, said: "I'm going with the charity Shelterbox to assess how best to meet the needs of displaced people in Somaliland.

"Hassan read about my last trip in the Advertiser and asked me if we could offer shelter to the people in his homeland around the capital Hargeisa.

"Since then I have met him several times and have taken him to see our headquarters in Cornwall where he met our founder, Tom Henderson.

"Tom has given his word that we will help in providing humanitarian and disaster aid to Somaliland, providing we can carry out a detailed needs assessment."

He added: "I am hoping Hassan can come with me although the funds available to him will not pay for the air fare, which is the only cost he needs to come up with.

"The government has confirmed there are tens of thousands of people returning from Ethiopia and Djibouti following the war in Somalia. The capital was flattened, and thousands of refugees entered the country from the east because of the current problems in the Somalia capital Mogadishu."

The project will be part of Shelterbox's commitment to give one million displaced African people shelter. Pat and his expedition colleagues have distributed hundreds of shelter boxes during their visits.

Most boxes contain a 10-person tent, blankets, water purification and cooking equipment, basic tools, a multi-fuel stove and survival equipment.

It can make all the difference for displaced people living between borders.

Anyone who wants to help Hassan get to Somaliland can call Pat on 07775 816435.

For more information visit www.shelterbox.org