A 19-YEAR-OLD student from Over Peover plans to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise £3000 for the charity Childreach International which she hopes will highlight the charity's work with children in Asia and Africa.

Sophie Hurst has already started training to climb the world’s highest freestanding mountain in September.

“I enjoy running so for fitness training I am carrying on with that,” said Sophie.

“There is a plan to do the Three Peaks at some point with other people from the team I am going up Kilimanjaro with.

“As for altitude, there's not really a way to train your body to be ready for that, so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't affect me”

Sophie will also spend some time volunteering for Childreach International whilst in Africa.

Their campaign, My School, My Voice, links children from Tanzania with children from the UK who share experiences about growing up as well as building local schools.

This is not the first time Sophie has taken on such a project.

When she was a pupil at the King’s school in Macclesfield Sophie spent a month in India helping to renovate a primary school whilst teaching english.

“I loved travelling to India, it is such an amazing place with such a colourful and different culture.

“The region of Ladakh, where I spent most of my time, is a truly beautiful place but the military areas were quite intimidating.

“The school we worked with was surrounded with barbed wire fences and the area was patrolled by men with firearms”

Sophie has already started raising funds for her Kilimanjaro trip with generous donations from local businesses.

Following an assembly Sophie took at Lower Peover primary school pupils went on to help raise funds with a own clothes day.

“I think it's important to teach children that not everyone their age lives like they do.

“We are all guilty of taking for granted what we have and forgetting about the world outside of our own personal bubbles.

“The assembly I used at Lower Peover gets the children to compare their own lives to that of a little girl who lives in Tanzania.”

When Sophie gets back to the UK she hopes to continue raising awareness for Childreach International.

“I hope to continue raising funds for them,” said Sophie.

“They are quite a new charity, only established in 2009, so I think it's important to keep raising awareness for them and the work they do.”

If you wish to find out more baout what Sophie is doing go to https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/sophiehurstclimbskili