AN East Lancashire teenager is taking a year off from her studies to help the less fortunate with theirs.

Gillian Birch, 19, is currently in Kenya, where she is spending six months at the Kamahia Primary School, in the district of Gilgil.

The school caters for about 650 pupils and 13 teachers and recently started an ambitious project to build five classrooms. When Gillian first arrived there was no library but thanks to her and the help of Vrai Alpiniste Expeditions (VAE) the voluntary group she is part of, all that is slowly changing.

Gillian said: "We have now converted an old stone room into a functioning library which the children make full use of at every opportunity. To the children the library is a completely unique experience. Until now they have never had such ready access to books. They have an enormous enthusiasm for learning but in the past have always been hindered by lack of resources. We are hoping this will change."

Gillian, of Brothers Street, Cherry Tree, Blackburn, is due to go to Oxford in September studying experimental psychology. Mum Barbara said this adventure was something she had always wanted to do.

Barbara, a special needs teacher with Our Lady and St John's High School, in North Road, Blackburn, said: "Gillian wanted to do something challenging and worthwhile where she could perhaps make a difference."

Barbara, whose eldest daughter Jane is in Finland in her final year at university, said Gillian and her travelling partner were fully briefed on what to expect in the third-world country and though well prepared she was still taken aback.

She said: "They are living in a hut with no electricity and no running water and when she first got there it was a culture shock and it was difficult but now she is really enjoying herself. She hasn't wished she was back home yet and she thinks the African kids are wonderful."

Gillian is receiving support from her former schools St Wilfrid's and Meadowhead Junior as well as St Gabriel's where Barbara used to teach. All the schools have raised hundreds of pounds to help the Kenyan school and when she returns at the end of June, she has promised to visit the children and tell them of her African adventure.