WHEN the children of the Kenyan village of Mwamambi needed a school, the answer to their prayers lay thousands of miles away.

Residents of Sadberge, a village on the outskirts of Darlington, moved heaven and earth to help them build it.

To show their gratitude, the African villagers have named the building, which is close to the Equator, Sadberge School.

The village band, inspired by the generosity of their English friends, have also got in the spirit and renamed themselves after the County Durham village.

The remarkable link between the two villages is down to John and Cynthia Price, who have made regular visits to Mwamambi.

A small nursery school, built mostly of mud and with no roof, which serves the village, about 30 miles from Mombasa, was in need of renovation and the couple decided they would help however they could.

Their first effort fell flat - or rather the school did.

"We put up a roof and the building walls collapsed, so we had to rebuild it with bricks," said Mr Price.

A mammoth task appeared to lie ahead for the couple, who are from Bradford, West Yorkshire, but they figured without the unwavering support of Sadberge.

Mrs Price's sister, Millie Scaife, who lives in Sadberge, rallied friends and neighbours. Three years of barbecues, raffles, teddy bears' picnics and other events later, the village has raised about £3,000, allowing not only the school to be rebuilt, but with two extra classrooms.

"The only people that have supported us are the village of Sadberge," said Mr Price.

"It seems the further north you go, the bigger your hearts get. These people really are just super in Sadberge.

"Apart from a couple of hundred pounds that we had managed to raise locally, and a bit we have put in ourselves, they are the sole sponsors.

"If they hadn't been able to do that, there wouldn't have been a school there."

The school is vital to the community, which bases its existence on the fishing and tourism industries, and has no electricity or sewer system.

Anyone who grows up there unable to speak English or do simple maths is unemployable and likely to die.

Mrs Scaife said the people of Sadberge had been more than happy to help, because they knew it was for a good cause.

She said: "Although it's sometimes embarrassing asking people for donations, people were willing to give because people knew where the money was going and what was going to happen to it.

"The money went out and they used local labour to benefit the local community.