CAROLINE Shaw had always wanted to give some of her time to work with orphan girls in China ever since watching the groundbreaking documentary, The Dying Rooms.

But nothing prepared the Trowbridge woman for the reality of actually going there, which she did in January this year for two weeks.

"It was heartbreaking how anyone could just abandon their children, but after a while you realise that people out there are so poor they just haven't got the facilities or the experience to deal with disabilities or autism, that's why you're needed," the 32-year-old book-keeper said.

"It was sad but it was worth it when these kids run up and give you a big hug in the mornings."

Miss Shaw travelled to the half state-run orphanage in Hengyang in Hunan Province with International China Concern, a Christian charity that tries to improve the lives of millions of Chinese orphans and runs the other half of the orphanage.

"ICC has improved conditions, they've just built a big respite centre and they go out four times a year, but it's not enough. They need more people to do it and more money," she said.

"It's so much better than when it was government run. The girls' room in which I was working was just this freezing room with a few dirty mats and bit of rope when I got there."

One of the girls Miss Shaw worked with was Yang Heng Pu, or Pu Pu for short.

She said: "She was one of the most amazing little girls I have ever come across, and if her smile didn't bring a tear to your eye, her little laugh would.

"She was abandoned due to the large size of her head - she had hydrocephalus or water on the brain and could not sit up or hold her head up.

"She came across as being a little madam but as she was one of the smallest and least able, she just wanted her little voice to be heard and to be held.

"I bonded with her straight away and was determined to bring a smile to her face every day if I could.

"She loved to sing and copy you and loved doing the hokey cokey' and on the last day, as I was pushing and running around with her like a looney in a pram I had bought her, with her tears and screams of delight and laughter, I knew that those moments in time I would never forget.

"You think you're going over to help these little kids and bring as much love with you as you can bear, but they end up humbling you with the amount of love they have to give back."

Miss Shaw found the placement by searching the Worldwide Volunteering online database, with more than 1.1million opportunities around the world. Visit worldwidevolunteering.org.uk