Giving a hand for charity

A Cardiff-based student is aiming to raise money for children in Africa - by doing a handstand every day for a year.

Julie Durmont, 26, a neuroscience student, came up with the idea to raise money to build playgrounds in Uganda.

And because it is a leap year, she will have to pose for photos while doing a handstand a total of 366 times.

Ms Durmont, from Canada, decided on the challenge after joining a Facebook group called Handstand February.

"While I was doing Handstand February, some of my friends said that I should do this for a whole year. My response was "are you crazy?"," she said.

"However, when the month ended, I was wondering "now what?" and also wanted to continue improving as I noticed that I was getting better at them."

She found the charity East African Playgrounds online and decided it perfectly matched her ideal cause.

So far, she has completed more than 100 handstands and hopes to finish the challenge in January 2012, in the same week as completing her PHD.

Some of her more spectacular handstands include one on a plane's wing, one next to Darth Vader and another with a pole dancer balancing on her.

To donate: www.justgiving.com/Julie-Dumont