TWELVE students have returned from a trip to Africa where they visited and worked with rural communities.

During their stay in Malawi, the dozen girls from Darlington's Polam Hall School and Teesside High, in Eaglescliffe, helped to supply one village with vital items needed to open a new school.

The group used the first week of the trip to acclimatise themselves, working at the Lengwe National Park with a school of youngsters in their late teens, carrying out a number of projects, including clearing a campsite - trailers and all - with their bare hands. After climbing one of the country's biggest mountains, Mulanje, which reaches 2,900m, the group moved on to Mwabvi National Park for week three and then a third park, Liwonde, for the last week.

"We each had our own personal aims that we wanted to get out of it," said Gemma Lonsdale, 18, of Teesside High.

Caroline Shields, also 18, of Polam Hall, said: "We went on the trip practically as strangers and we came back as good friends."

The trip also allowed for safari expeditions, with hippos, elephants and bush babies among the sights.