STUDENTS still affected by a life-changing trip three months after returning from Africa have helped launch a major fundraiser to send classmates on the epic expedition.
Darlington School of Mathematics and Science students witnessed poverty beyond their imagination after visiting a 14,000-strong community who live on a rubbish dump.
As they helped their school launch a £20,000 fundraiser, they recalled the contrasts of foul smells, heat, flies, disease and starvation set against the warmth and friendliness of a community with nothing.
The whole school will again get behind fundraising efforts for the lucky 12 students selected by interview to go on the 12-day unforgettable trip to the impoverished community of Nakuru, three hours north west of Nairobi.
Next summer they will join the Jubilee and Destiny projects to improve conditions in the local community including rendering, concreting and decorating buildings in 80 degrees of heat and helping to educate young people.
Courtney Scott, 15, Tom Towle, 16, and Courteney Howlett, 15, have been talking to Year 8 to 10 students about their experiences.
Courtney said: “It was amazing, unforgettable and shocking. We have so much and they live on a rubbish dump.”
Tom added: “It was overwhelming and very emotional to see how they live and yet how cheerful they are.”
Courteney said: “You feel like you just want to do more for them and even though we have been back months you still remember like it was yesterday.”
Deputy head teacher Neil Johnson led the trip and launched the fundraising campaign in a special assembly.
He said: “The most humbling thing was that even though the people had so little we saw no begging. They just wanted to say hello and shake your hand. Every one of the students was affected by the trip. At the last meal there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
“The building element of the trip was hard work but very rewarding. They are trying to build an orphanage so the children they teach by day don’t have to spend the night sleeping on the streets. It is an amazing trip for the students who go but the spirit goes right across the school which gets behind the fundraising so well.”
