STUDENTS from Blackburn College have joined a volunteering project in Vietnam.

A group of 10 AS Level students will travel to the Thanh An Commune in North Vietnam’s Hai Duong Province this month to help build a kitchen in a local kindergarten.

The 16-18 year-olds will work alongside local staff and volunteers and try their hand at brick laying, plastering and decorating the finished kitchen.

They will also teach English games, songs and dances to children at the kindergarten.

The project has been organised in conjunction with the International Voluntary Service (IVS) and Volunteers for Peace Vietnam (VPV) groups which encourage people to experience life and work in a different country.

A college spokesman said: “We feel the students benefit from being exposed to a world which varies from theirs in so many ways. “They’re given responsibilities and learn practical skills that are new to them, make new friends from different cultures and appreciate the luxuries that they are surrounded with.”