FIVE pupils from Stonyhurst College have spent their summer holiday building a refuge for orphaned girls in Kenya.

The group travelled to Lodwa, in northern Kenya, and then made a four-hour truck journey to an encampment in the conflict-torn Lokitaung town, where they began work on a refuge and education centre. Here, young girls are sold off for dowry money, and women are expected to do most of the work.

They are often denied education and married off at a young age in exchange for animals.

Former college pupil, Alister Coates,18, is the driving force behind the project and wants to raise £20,000 to provide education, shelter and protection from forced marriages for 30 girls, aged from six.

The centre as a whole will educate around 300 young people at any one time and should be ready early next year.

Pupil Isobel Bidwell, 17, said: "It has opened my eyes to other cultures."