Scottish schoolgirl's heartbreaking mission in Africa

AIMEE GILMOUR smiles for the camera as she poses with one-year-old baby Innocent strapped on her back.

But the 12-year-old admitted she was close to tears seeing the cruel reality of life for many of her peers in Malawi.

Aimee, of Rothesay, spent two weeks in the Milonde community filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary for actor David Hayman's charity Spirit Aid.

Her film will be distributed throughout Scotland to highlight the heart-breaking life Malawi's children endure daily.

Aimee, Community Champ at this year's Sunday Mail & Lloyds TSB Young Scot Awards, visited the HIV/Aids children's clinic at Mulanje District Hospital.

She said: "The clinic made me feel really sad. It was full of hundreds of children who had been orphaned by HIV. There is nowhere else for them to go.

"They all had big sad eyes and were very quiet compared to other children I met in Malawi. I felt really upset when I realised they would never see their mums and dads again.

"HIV and Aids are among the biggest problems in Malawi and a doctor at the hospital told us that nearly 60 per cent of the community we were staying in were affected by this awful disease.

"Every day hundreds of people queue for hours outside the clinic for treatment but they have to turn a lot of them away because they don't have enough supplies."

Aimee, who was accompanied on the trip by her dad John, 41, admits the time she spent with the Milonde kids has changed her life forever and hopes the film she made about Malawi through the eyes of a child will help raise awareness among Scots children.

She said: "I saw situations that made me very sad but the children in Malawi remain happy no matter what. It does make you look at the way we live and I have much more appreciation for the nice life I have on Bute.

"The most important thing I realised was we tend to want more in life than we need.

"One of my lasting memories is of my dad giving half a pastry to a little girl, who ran off to share it with five of her friends. It really made me think how lucky we all are.

"Even though they are poorer than poor, they do everything with a smile and share what little they have. It makes you feel very humble."

During her stay Aimee lived in a mud hut and worked a typical day with a host family, which gave her first-hand experience of extreme poverty.

She said: "I got up early and helped make porridge for breakfast then I went out to work in the fields until dark with the other women and children.

"I helped to make bricks and harvest the crops as well as collecting water from the bore hole, which took lots of strength as you had to pump for 20 minutes at a time.

"I did all my chores with a baby strapped to my back like the other women and young girls.

"The little boy I carried was called Innocent and it broke my heart when I had to say goodbye to him at the end of the fortnight." Aimee, who is a child ambassador for Spirit Aid, says one of the hardest tasks was carrying a bucket of water on her head.

For longer trips the only means of transport was the taxi bicycle service.

She said: "The women and children have to walk for miles with buckets on their heads. I just don't know how they did it. Mine was only half full and it was still too heavy.

"I also visited homeless people in the city of Blantyre, where Spirit Aid are hoping to open a soup kitchen in January. It was distressing to see so many little children begging for food." Aimee also went to school and opened the new Milonde creche, set up by Spirit Aid and equipped by the people of Bute.

She said: "The people were very happy with the creche as the youngest children had nowhere to go."

A special bond has been established between Milonde and Rothesay Joint School Campus, which Aimee attends.

She said: "Plans are being made over the next 12 months to establish a link for exchanges between the two schools.

"We are also hoping to raise funds for a new mill and livestock.

"I am determined to raise money to help the new friends I have found in Milonde and hope my film will encourage other young Scots to help out."

Trial And Retribution star Hayman said: "Aimee is one of our youngest ambassadors and is a great spokeswoman for Spirit Aid.

"The film she will bring home to Scotland will raise awareness of Malawi's plight.

"It has no political agenda. She tells it like it is, which will be much more poignant than anything an adult could produce."