THEY are scenes which seem as far away from Darlington as it is possible to get.

Yet the children in this Malawi village have a lot to thank their counterparts at Harrowgate Hill Junior School for.

Over the past three years, the school has sponsored two children - Happy Munthali and Tiwonge Nzima, now teenagers - from the village of Enguicini, a farming area.

Harrowgate Hill teacher Graham Temby, who has overseen the project, said: "First came one of the most prolonged and terrible droughts in living memory. Crops withered in the fields and many people were reduced to eating the green grain, grass and the bark from trees. Famine, once again, stalked Africa.

"The latest letter from our children relates how things have changed. They are now suffering from floods, which in some cases have washed away fields of crops.

"Food shortages have also been exacerbated by the political situation in Zimbabwe. The country that was once known as 'the bread-basket of Africa' has been reduced to the point where it can barely feed its population, and there is no surplus for export."

The sponsorship of £15 per month per child is provided from the pocket money of Harrowgate Hill pupils, supplemented by fundraising activities.

Mr Temby said: "Without our sponsorship, it is unlikely that our African children would be able to remain in school. They would be forced to leave to help work the fields to grow the subsistence and cash crops upon which the family depends.

"Our money also provides the medical care that the children need to avoid the many diseases that are endemic to this part of the world."

As well as re-equipping the village school with desks, Harrowgate Hill recently sent each of the two children a solar-powered clockwork radio, supplied by the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales.

The picture above was taken by the children using disposable cameras which the school occasionally sends to the African village.

Mr Temby said: "The children take the photos and return them to us for processing. Our children love to receive them."

* Harrowgate Hill's sponsorship is via Everychild of London, previously The Christian Children's Fund Inc. Local businesses wishing to assist the project can contact the school at Thompson Street West, Darlington, DL3 0HZ, or call (01325) 253300.