Tearful goodbyes as youngsters head off to help build a playground (From Daily Echo)

Tearful goodbyes as youngsters head off to help build a playground

8:00am Saturday 6th February 2010 in

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THEY’RE helping provide a place to play for youngsters used to picking through mountains of rubbish.

Around 30 Hampshire youngsters are travelling to the Philippines to help construct a new adventure playground for poor children.

The students will work alongside local children to build the playground close to the new school.

The Philippines Community Fund (PCF), a charity set up and run from Hedge End, by Jane Walker is building the school made of recycled ship containers.

The 28 students, aged 15 to 17, comprising teenagers from Sholing Technology College, Itchen College and teachers from Sholing Junior School will spend two weeks in Tondo.

Sholing Technology College student Julia Robinson, 15 said: “I think it’s going to be a shock, no matter what we’ve been told or experienced, I know it’s going to be a shock because everyone has said how traumatic it is.

“I know it’s going to be upsetting but it’s also going to be exciting because we know we can go out there and make a difference.

“That’s the reason I signed up because I knew I’d be able to help and I’ve always wanted to do something like this but I didn’t know how to get started with it so this coming up is fantastic.”

It is the second trip by the Sholing Campus Philippines project with many students, some now at different colleges, returning to the country.

Ben Elderkin-Shute, from Woolston, is one of those pupils who travelled to the Philippines two years ago.

The 16-year-old, who attends Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, said: “I’m looking forward to seeing the same kids I saw out there two years ago the most, seeing how they’ve changed as well as meeting the new ones too.

“It meant a lot to go out there last time, it gives you a new perspective on things and you come back with a better outlook on life, it was really, really good.”

Project leader and retired teacher at Grove Park, Dave Berry, said: “I think the guys will come back very different people, the Philippine people have a very different outlook on life.

“We take everything for granted in our Western society. When you go out to work with the Philippine Community Fund and the children from the dump site, these people have nothing and yet they still have smiles on their faces.”