A UNIVERSITY student will be swapping her laptop for a rucksack when she travels to a remote part of Africa to help build a community playground.

Charlotte Booth-Hulme, aged 21, is heading to Ginger, a small village in Uganda, on June 8 with nine others from the University of Hertfordshire, where she is in her final year of studying film and television production.

Charlotte, from Derwent Street, Leigh, said: “The charity we are going with, East African Playgrounds, believes children in Africa have to grow up a lot quicker than they should, and so it tries to promote play,” she said.

“As well as building the playground, we will go into the community and run sports and craft activities with children so they can experience play instead of having to walk miles to get water or look after their younger siblings.

“I am nervous about going because the culture will be so different and we have been told we will have to ‘cover up’, but the local people are really friendly and welcoming to new people.”

Charlotte has previous experience of working with children — she used to volunteer at Pathfinder, a youth group at Pennington Church.

She added: “I need to raise £700, but all the money will go towards the materials we need to build the playground, all my travel costs I have saved up myself.

"It will be weird not being able to communicate with anyone — there will be no wifi, just the odd text to tell my family I’m still alive.”

To sponsor Charlotte, visit virginmoneygiving.com.