An intrepid logistics worker from Potters Bar has returned to the UK after ten months of gruelling charity work in a remote part of South Sudan.

Haydn Williams, 28, from Old Park Ride, left home comforts behind in July 2011 and headed off for a stint with Doctors without Borders, a charity which provides emergency medical care to victims of war or disaster.

Mr Williams, who studied agriculture at Harper Adams University College near Stafford, had worked as a logistician in the UK but wanted a challenge.

He said: “When I left university I travelled down the west coast of Africa and that got Africa into my blood. I wanted to go back there.

“One day I just googled ‘logistics jobs in Africa’ and Doctors without Borders came up. It seemed like a really good organisation.

“I felt that I could use my skills to contribute to it.”

He was offered the job which saw him travelling to a remote, swampy area of South Sudan where he was responsible for a primary care centre’s supplies, management, human resources and finance.

The 28-year-old lived in a mud hut, three meters by three meters in size, which had no running water or electricity.

The area was only accessible by air and his only contact with the outside world came in the form of the plane which visited every ten days.

He faced insect plagues, dust storms, high humidity and temperatures which reached 50 degrees centigrade.

During his time at the clinic he witnessed doctors dealing with a malaria outbreak, malnutrition, dehydration, the results of violence and of babies falling into cooking fires.

He said: “We didn’t get much privacy, well, any really. The mud huts are where you can have a bit of time on your own.”

Mr Williams’ contract with Doctors without Borders has now ended and they expect him to spend at least two months resting in the UK.

However, he hopes to head off on a similar adventure again soon.

He said: “I love the way I could end up anywhere. That is one of the best things about working for Doctors without Borders.

“My parents are very proud and respect the fact I am doing it but a part of them wishes I could afford my own place when I come back!

“There is, of course, nervousness, but slowly they are starting to get used to it.”

Mr Williams’ most poignant memory of his time in South Sudan was being asked by a nurse to build a special chair for a three-year-old girl who was weak from the effects of malnutrition and dehydration.

He spent a whole day making the chair which would allow the child to be propped up so that she could see what was going on around her.

This stimulation was so beneficial to her that two days later Mr Williams was called back into the clinic to see her sitting up, smiling and feeding herself.

The last time he has seen her she had been too weak even to lift up her head.

Mr Williams said: “In some ways it’s still just like a job. Yes, the place is very different but, essentially, you are just getting up and going to work each day.

“You do get to meet some amazing people though.”