Students from Somersfield Academy have helped to build the foundations for a better life for a group of Peruvian children.

The teenagers built extensions to a boarding house for schoolchildren near the city of Cusco, some 3,300 metres above sea level.

For many it was the chance to see how people in a Third World country live, as they travelled to the South American country as part of their Community Service curriculum.

"The children from mountain villages stay in the boarding house because otherwise there is a three-hour drive for them to get to school," said 14-year-old Emily Fischer.

"The families paid for their board in potatoes and one family even paid in guinea pigs."

Eighteen M4 and M5 students travelled to Peru with teachers Irina Marjanovic, Rheanne Stephens and Fraser Dodd last month.

At the boarding house they set to work building an outer wall and inner wall for a carpentry workshop, using bricks and cement, plus adobe bricks and mud.

The boarding house accommodates 25 children between the ages of eight and 17, and the Somersfield students found they made friends easily.

"We kind of lived their lives for a week, minus the going-to-school part, and the children were really fun," said 15-year-old Karl Kane-Collery.

"They love meeting new people."

"They were so down to earth," said Miss Fischer.

"We did get a bit dizzy in the altitude the first couple of days, it was really hard to get used to. But then you see these mothers carrying their children on their backs while they are shovelling mud and walking with huge wheelbarrows.

"Peru is an amazing place. You see all this amazing scenery and mountains. We also got to help people. They were really appreciative of just the small things. It was hard work, but also very rewarding."

Students also helped to construct stoves in three village homes, using mud and stone, rebar and straw, plus a metal chute for the chimneys.

Miss Marjanovic said: "I think it made us all grateful for what we have. In Bermuda we are quite sheltered, so to be able to go to a Third World country and see how people on the other side of the tracks live was a great experience.

"These people can still find happiness with just the basic things."

She added: "The trip was such a success we think we are going to have a trip to a different Third World country each year from now on. I was very proud of the students because they worked tirelessly and jumped at the opportunity to help people."