In 2003 Elspeth was watching Comic Relief on TV and her heart was wrenched by seeing the plight of orphans and children in Africa, who had no other option but to live on the streets. She realized that she could do more than simply donate money, she could actually do something practical to help.

Her next step was to buy some land in Malawi, with the help of Glad Munthali, design and build a children’s home – Smile Malawi - which opened in October 2006. The Centre takes in homeless street children from the city of Blantyre and gives outreach care to children in the local villages.

Elspeth lives and works in the UK as a railway civil engineer with the London CrossRail project and spends all her free time running Smile Malawi and overseeing the project in Africa. She is also a former Maths teacher so does all she can to support the local village school too.