Students from King's Wood School in Harold Hill will be travelling to South Africa to teach computer skills to local youngsters.

The trip forms part of Expedition South Africa 2000, a project to educate young people in computing and enable Havering's young people to gain experience of another culture.

A group of 10 students, aged 15 to 17, from the school in Settle Road will be completing computer training and achieving a peer trainer's level certificate.

This will enable them to teach young people on their visit to Athlone, South Africa, in August.

It is a joint initiative between Havering Council's youth and community service, King's Wood School and the Inter-action Youth Connect Project.

Youth and community officer, Steve Power, said: "This project aims to further educate our young people in computing and provide them with the opportunity to experience another culture. The project will also encourage and promote links with youth organisations within South Africa."

The project was launched at the school last week, with the help of Cllr Jeff Stafford, chairman of school governors Mike Davis, and Harold MP and school governor Keith Darvill.

Mr Darvill said: "I am sure these young people are up to the challenge this project presents. It will make them aware of what they can achieve, boost self confidence and broaden their horizons too."

The group will be taking part in a variety of fundraising activities before they go. There are also opportunities to support the project via sponsorship, which could take the form of computer hardware.

The trip is scheduled for August 11 to September 2.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.