Kenyan adventure for four teenagers

TEENAGERS from an Abbots Bromley school are helping African children as they spend a month in Kenya.

Four girls, aged 15 and 17, from Abbots Bromley School for Girls, are currently in Kenya for an overseas exhibition with World Challenge Exhibitions, which is a two-year programme.

The pupils chose where they wanted to go and took part in the planning and research to help with their education, personal development and life skills.

They had to raise £3,500 each to cover personal costs which included everything apart from their own kit.

They also raised money for the group through fund-raising in the school to be spent how they like in the last four days of the trip.

The budget for each day is three to five American dollars per person which has to include food, transport and accommodation to teach them to look for value for money and make independent decisions. Team members will take it in turns to do the different jobs and will have a group review at the end of each day.

Mobile phones and iPods are not allowed for the teenagers but they will be able to send e-mails if they pass an internet cafe.

Parental contact is also an activity that is discouraged as the trip is to teach them responsibility and to be independent.

There is a basic pattern for every World Challenge trip starting with the climatisation stage to get the pupils used to the atmosphere, where they will trek through Hell’s Gate National Park in the Nakuru District and climb Mount Kenya.

They will also be white water rafting on the Tana River and helping to build a library block for a school in Bungule, near the Tanzania boarder, to help the African children with their education.

They will then decide as a group what they would like to do for the remainder of the trip.

World Challenge link teacher Elizabeth Lampard said: "World Challenge is a very strong organisation and has a lot of back-up if things should go wrong — they have even been known to get the Army to people when they have needed to.

"The more the girls do for themselves on the trip, they more they learn and enjoy it.

"In 2002, while I was with the project in Costa Rica, one of the girls said to me that this ‘is the best month of my life ever’ which was amazing.

"It gives the girls a taste of independence and responsibility. In this day and age where there are so many limits, it gives them a sense of freedom and supervised risk-taking.

"It’s very much their exhibition and pupil led as much as possible so it’s okay for them to make mistakes as its how they learn."