Now, the 15-year-old is getting ready to travel to Uganda to help underprivileged communities as part of a missionary trip with her school Charlton Christian College.

Lauren will travel to the East African republic in March next year and is busy fundraising to help cover the cost of the trip, which is upwards of $3,500.

“I have never even been out of the country before, so this is a very big deal,” she said.

“I asked the school about what mission trips were available and this seemed like a wonderful opportunity.”

Lauren, with the help of her mother Tracey, has been selling raffle tickets and running a pie drive to help fund the trip. 

The raffle will be drawn in December with some great prizes up for grabs, including a beautiful painting kindly donated by a local artist. 

Lauren said that she has missed out on a lot of opportunities in recent years, after an injury to her knee requiring two surgeries left her incapacitated. 

“There have been things at school before that I haven’t been able to take part in, because of my knee,” she said.

“This is an opportunity I don’t want to miss out on.

“I am very excited, but also nervous.

“I hope it will be a good experience.”

Tickets to Lauren’s raffle are available at Kurri Seafoods and she has also set up a Facebook page ‘Lauren Fords Uganda Mission Trip’ to update the community on her progress.

More information is also available by emailing mjtjford@gmail.com.