TWO Knutsford students are preparing to head off to Africa for an educational experience.

Hannah Williams and Harriet Foden are preparing for their Christmas holiday break in an unusual way.

The girls have been gathering up materials to make sock puppets and creating lessons plans to use when they head out to Africa to work with young children and their mothers in The Gambia.

The 18-year-olds are among 12 Withington Girls’ School students who will spend the week of December 16 to 23 in a rural Gambian village leading arts and crafts lessons for pre-school children and painting decorative murals on the walls of their school and an HIV clinic.

They will also learn about local sustainable farming techniques and get the chance to help with digging and compost sewing of seeds for local crops.

Hannah wants to study veterinary medicine, and Harriet hopes to study economics at university.

The fundraising the girls and their classmates have done for the Gambia project over the past year has raised enough to help pay for a computer centre, medical treatment room, sustainable farming equipment and salaries for two Mama Tamba nursery school teachers.

The girls also plan to take toys, skipping ropes, footballs and other sports equipment for the school.