An 18-year-old Shropshire woman living out her life’s dream in Kenya has been caught up in the country’s political turmoil.

Nyrée Grevett, 18, from Aqueduct in Telford, has been volunteering in an orphanage in the west of the country, near to where there have been several days of violence and killings.

The conflict between different political tribes was sparked by President Mwai Kibaki winning a disputed election to stay in power.

On the day of the poll Nyrée and four students, who are volunteering with her in the town of Nakuru, near Nairobi, were on a short break on the east coast of the country, in a village called Watuma.

They were due to travel back to the orphanage, which looks after children affected by HIV and AIDS, earlier this week.

But, because it is safer, they have been told to remain in the complex where they are staying until the violence, which has seen more than 300 deaths, subsides.

In recent days the situation has eased but now the opposition Orange Democratic Movement has said it will press ahead with more street protests, which have been the centre of much of the conflict.

The British High Commission in Kenya has told Nyrée ‘s parents, Karen and Tony, that she will only be allowed to leave when they think it is safe.

If the situation deteriorates the group could be flown out of the country.

Nyrée cannot contact her parents directly because she is constrained to the village but they have been contacted by others to say she is safe.

Nyrée went to St Dominic’s School in Brewood, on the Shropshire border, where her mother teaches, before taking GCSEs at Shrewsbury Girls’ High School and A Levels at Newport Girls’ High School.

Mrs Grevett said her daughter had told people she wanted to travel and help children in need overseas since she was six.

She has taken a break year after completing her A Levels and decided she would spend six months in Kenya, travelling with specialist travel company Changing Worlds.

At the orphanage she has been feeding, helping and befriending desperately ill and poor children.

Mr and Mrs Grevett said they were devastated when they heard about the violence.