Journalist Ciara Kenny travels to Zambia in September, to spend one month living with a rural community in the country's Eastern Province. She will file regular blog reports, video clips and other material on life in the village - with the material being hosted by The Irish Times newspaper, and on other platforms.

The visit is being organised by development agency Self Help Africa. It is an innovative and exciting project that seeks to apply 'new media' resources to tell the stories, and open a window into the lives of rural African people.

How do they spend their time, what are their concerns, and the challenges that they face, and what are their hopes and dreams for the future. These will be amongst the issues that Ciara is hoping to examine and explore.

Armed with a voice recorder, DV camera and solar powered laptop, she will seek to tell the stories, to profile the characters, and recount the experiences.

Follow 'A Village in Africa' at: http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/avillageinafrica/
or find out more at: www.selfhelpafrica.org