RINGWOOD schoolgirl Sophia Hughes is hoping the present political unrest in Kenya will have been resolved by the time she visits the East African country next year.

Year 10 student Sophia, 14, is among a group of classmates and staff planning to spend a month of their summer holidays in 2009 working the Camp Kenya organisation on various voluntary and conservation projects.

"During this trip I will be spending time doing voluntary work such as building, carpentry, helping under-privileged children, teaching and helping sick animals in the wild," said Sophia.

And with ambitions to study marine biology after completing her GCSE studies next year, Sophia is also looking forward to learning to dive as part of the Kenya trip.

But first she has to raise £3,350 to cover the cost of the African adventure and as well as group projects in school she is also organising her own fund-raising programme with help from older brother Chris, who is doing wood carvings, and their mother Susi who is making T-shirts for her to sell in aid of the trip.