Pupils fundraising to pay for trip to Uganda

A GROUP of intrepid students are fundraising to help pay for a trip to Uganda where they will be renovating and refurbishing a school.

The team of 12 boys from Abbotsfield School, in Clifton Gardens, Hillingdon, are planning to head to the African country in October next year.

For the majority of the 14 day expedition they will be staying in a village taking part in a project to help the community renovate and refurbish the local school.

This is the first time such a challenge has been set and undertaken by the school.

Louise Richards, the lead teacher for the trip, was very keen for the boys to be involved in both expedition activities and a community project.

She said: "Travelling can be a life changing experience and the only way you truly get to know the country you are travelling in is by meeting the local people and getting involved".

At the end of the trip the boys are planning to take time out to do white water rafting on the river Nile.

The boys are now fundraising for the trip with events being run both in and out of school.

One of the students, Manraj Virdee, has already demonstrated an entrepreneurial and enterprising spirit by raising £400 at his own snooker tournament .

William Hill, said: "The trip is going to be an amazing experience. I have never had the opportunity to do something like this before."

Caleb Kent said: "It is one of those things that you only get to do once in your life and I want to be part of it."

The trip is being organised by World Challenge, a company which specialises in organising trips in the developing world which teach life skills and expand minds outside the classroom.