DUNDEE-BASED charity Link Overseas Exchange has been training 30 young volunteers for trips to Sri Lanka, India and China in September.

The youngsters will spend six-month placements undertaking community work, teaching and general support work in the developing countries.

This week the senior pupils, from schools in Dundee, Angus and Fife, had a final training get-together at The Burn, Edzell, before they embark on their various projects.

Andrew Greaves, who started the programme 14 years ago with his wife Vicky, said the exchange helped the youngsters understand different ways of life.

He said, “The idea of the Link Overseas Exchange is that the young people go overseas and make a difference to a poorer country.

“Then they come back to their local communities having had the experience of living in different cultures and make a positive contribution here as well.

“I don’t think there is anything more important than understanding other cultures.”

The volunteer programme runs in conjunction with the building of Dundee’s Samanikethana Centre in post-tsunami Sri Lanka.