PASTA, rice and soup are on the menu this week for a Horwich student who is taking on the pound-a-day diet.

But she is not a faddy calorie counter — Claire Bromley is aiming to raise money for a developing community she will be volunteering in over summer between June and September.

The first year medicine and languages student, who studies at the University of Manchester, will be spending 10 weeks volunteering with Y Care International on one of its overseas projects, either in Guatemala, Togo, Bangladesh or Senegal.

She started her challenge on Monday and will continue through until Sunday.

Miss Bromley said: "My trip is funded and I will be living with a host family, and in return I must raise at least £800 towards the community I will be living in.

"I have decided to live off £1 a day for a week because it is recognised as a poverty line that some people have no choice but to live on. Plus I may well be living like this throughout my trip.

"It's not just about the difficulty of finding cheap food, but also having to deal with the repetition of the types of food I will be eating, so for example porridge oats with water rather than milk, lots of rice and pasta and water to drink, which of course is free from the tap."

The Department for International Development (DFID)-funded programme is open to 18 to 25-year-olds to apply for where they work with an established charity and help with community issues such as sexual health and education.

Miss Bromley said: "I'm not sure exactly where I am going or what I'll be doing yet, but hopefully I will find out in the next couple of weeks. There are four places I could be sent.

"I could be doing anything from working on natural disaster prevention and response, teaching vulnerable young ex-prisoners valuable life skills, or setting up youth clubs in areas where the only option for young people seems to be joining a gang."

To donate money to Miss Bromley's cause, visit justgiving.com/Claire-Bromley.