STUDENTS who spent two weeks helping the sick and poor in Africa say they were humbled by experiences that will stay with them forever.
Six sixth formers from Emmanuel College, in Gateshead, took part in the annual expedition to work as volunteers providing home-based care and help in schools in Zambia.
They said the lasting image they brought home was of the smiling faces of people with very little who remained cheerful despite every day being a challenge.
Callum Bellshaw said: “We complain about the simplest things like having to get up from the TV and walk ten feet to put on the kettle for a cup of tea. In Zambia, people have to walk 300 metres with a bucket and pump water, which isn’t even clean enough that we’d wash our cars with it, out of a communal well and carry it back full and heavy.
“As boys of 17 we found it hard, but there girls aged ten and younger have to do it every day.”
The students were based at the Ndubaluba Christian outward bound centre, in the central province of Zambia, together with students from their sister schools in the Emmanuel Schools Foundation in Middlesbrough, Blyth and Doncaster.
They helped provide home-based care through a local charity Lifeline, which helps communities ravaged by Aids and HIV.
Emmanuel student Ishmam Ahmed said: “One person really stood out for me, a lady called Rosemary. She had eight children but three had died from Aids and two had left her. One of her sons neglected her and the community had turned away because she has HIV.
“She couldn’t work, was in a lot of pain and was really alone apart from help through Lifeline. We made a crutch for her, dug a pit for her bins, collected water for her and played with her younger children.”
The students did building work and helped with orphans at Donata special school attended by 50 children with a variety of disabilities including eye problems, which can cause them to be rejected.
They also experienced life in the bush to climb Mount Mumpu, the highest freestanding peak in the country, sleeping out under the stars with only mosquito nets for cover.
They saw wildlife including monkeys, chinchillas and scorpions and, for Ishmam, the expedition was also an opportunity to try some unforgettable “bush tucker”.
“We had to get to Mount Mumpu in an open-top truck and whenever we went under trees insects fell on our heads. I thought I’d never get another chance so I ate some of them – a locust, a mantis, a grasshopper and a beetle,” he said.
Other local food included nshima, the staple of Zambia made from maize, kapenta, a tiny dried fish, and soya beans.
Teacher Steve Gill said: “The team of students were fantastic. They gelled together very quickly and there was excellent team spirit among them.
“We had a really good mix, some were more academic, others were very sporty but everyone joined in. Some were afraid of heights, others scared of insects, yet they overcame these fears with their friends.”
The other students who went from Emmanuel were Beth Wood, Joanne Ingham, Rebecca Hopkins and Amy Bright.
Both Callum and Ishmam, who is a charities co-ordinator at Emmanuel College and helped organise an appeal which raised £3,000 for the victims of the Philippines typhoon disaster in 2013, are keen to go back to Zambia.
Callum said: “The whole experience was phenomenal and will stay with me for the rest of my life.