FOUR students have set their sights on travelling to raise money for disadvantaged children.

Colchester Institute childcare students Charlotte Callaby, Emily Woods, Molly Crosby and Morgen Brothwell are to spend a fortnight in Go, in Western India, in February.

While there, they will help out at at an HIV clinic and a nursery and visit the poorest parts of the state, taking along give toys and books and helping redecorate classrooms. The teenagers are hoping the experience will help them go on to work with children, become early year teachers or go into child nursing.

Charlotte, 17, from Colchester, said: “We are in our final year and we are looking are going into university.

“It’s really fitting, because the other girls want to go into to early years teaching and I want to be a child nurse.

“Going out there and seeing the children, working with this charity, brings something out in you that stays with you for the rest of your life.”

They will be part of a group of 16 working at Starting Point Nursery, in Northern Goa, for the charity Novi Survat.

Charlotte added: “A lot of us think we have it bad here, but then you go there and see how lucky we are in in comparison. It is these kids that don’t end up going to school.”

The girls need to raise £500 between them to fund the trip. To donate, visit crowdfunding.justgiving.com/charlotte-callaby.