By Matt Scorer

A group of Hope Valley College students have returned from a World Challenge trip to Kenya.

Whilst at the school the visiting party built 120 desks for the use in the school as well as painting classroom walls and helped to teach some lessons.

Deputy Principal Paul Dearden, who set up the partnership with Kavanyalalo, said: "The trip was a massive success and pushed the students out of their comfort zone, allowing them to see a different culture with different traditions and practices. Having witnessed the limited facilities available to students in a different country first hand, it will hopefully encourage them to grasp their own opportunities with both hands. "

The students completely financed the trip themselves including booking travel and accommodation plus all the budgeting for the month long visit.

The group of 11 raised money through various fundraising events including jumble sales, cake sales, a sponsored abseil and bag packing at supermarkets. After helping at the school the students managed to see some of Kenya's many tourist attractions including visiting some of the national parks on safari, climbing a volcano in the Rift Valley and riding the Mombasa - Nairobi night train.

Principal Bernie Hunter said: "These are the kind of experiences that the students will remember for their entire lives. They will have learnt a whole host of things about themselves as people and those lessons are as important as anything taught in a classroom. The students were a credit to themselves and excellent ambassadors for the College."

Kavanyalalo is a primary school, which in Kenya means pupils of up to the age of 14 attend, with approximately 800 pupils. It was constructed in a traditional African style with dry mud walls and dirt floors. It has very simple classrooms and no cafeteria.

Mr. Dearden added: "It was important that we found a school that mirrored some of the issues that we at Hope Valley College face - rural, isolated, poorly funded, so that we could assist each other in methods to deal with such problems. Kavanyalalo fitted the bill."