Good works take designer and students a world away

Denise L'Estrange-Corbet (front) with Hebron students (from left) James Henderson, Josh Strutt, Sarah Clerk, Magdalene Edwin and Catherine Ryder and puppets they will take to the orphanage. Picture / Richard Robinson

Two opposite worlds collide next week as fashion designer Denise L'Estrange-Corbet joins 37 Auckland students for their school holidays in a Tanzanian orphanage.

Africa is a new realm in Ms L'Estrange-Corbet's charitable work, having been inspired to join the trip after meeting two Hebron Christian College students seeking her help for a fashion fundraiser for the trip.

"They were just such lovely, articulate young people."

A three-person film crew will document the New Zealand contingent, comprising Ms L'Estrange-Corbet, 34 Hebron students, seven teachers, seven parents, and three other students from two Maori schools.

The contingent leaves on Tuesday, just after the Live8 concert series to end poverty and world debt, which coincides with the meeting of world leaders at the G8 summit in Scotland.

Tanzania was one of 18 countries whose debts were written off last month.

Hebron principal Geoff Matthews said the two-week trip to Moshi, a five-hour bus ride from Nairobi, is an opportunity for the students to meet the orphans they've helped since 2003.

Hebron, in Mt Albert, has raised more than $25,000 for the orphanage, allowing it to build and equip two classrooms with desks, chairs and other resources.

What started out as a classroom project has become an individual mission for many of the school's students. While each student raised $2750 for airfare and accommodation, it will be no holiday.

In Moshi, the students will be helping with chores in the orphanage and its school. They will also perform songs, dances and Maori cultural items for the children, many of whose parents died of Aids.

Year 12 student James Henderson, who is taking soccer balls, frisbees and whistles, just wanted to meet the orphans, including a girl who wears a broken wristwatch. "This school has made me think outside the square about people and not just myself."

For Ms L'Estrange-Corbet, the trip marks her first visit to Africa.

"When I travel it's usually to places that are really glamorous, and we're going to a country that has not even heard of Fashion Week."

It's a new level for her charitable work. "It's one thing to give things, but it's quite different to go and see it for ourselves. It's good for us to see how the other half lives."

* Live8 screens live on TV2 tomorrow from 1am to 12pm