KIND-HEARTED children at a Sedgley primary school have been collecting classroom goodies for African youngsters, to be hand delivered by one of their teachers over the Christmas holidays.

Simon Lisseter, a teacher at Cotwall End Primary School and his friend Ian Rogers will be packing up a Ford Mondeo with pens, paper and educational resources to take to the Jam Jam Nursery in Banjul, Gambia.

The Halesowen pair, friends since the age of seven, head off on the international expedition today (December 19), returning home on January 4.

The two-week journey will see them travel as part of the Plymouth to Banjul rally, which has run every year since 2002.

Once in the Gambia, Mr Rogers and Mr Lisseter will visit Jam Jam Nursery, which was built with money raised by a number of Dudley schools.

And over the past two years, children from the Cotwall End Road school also been sending letters and pens to the African schoolchildren.

Mr Lisseter and Mr Rogers, both aged 33, will head through France, Spain, Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania before The Gambia.

At the finish line the pair will donate their 15-year-old car for auction by the Gambian Rotary organisation. Money raised will go to sport and educational projects.

Mr Lisseter, who took part in the rally two years ago, said: “The Gambian school we are visiting has very little – no pens, pencils and paper. How easy is it to find a pen in this country for free?

“While driving through Africa on the previous rally, I tried to give a some chocolates to a boy who had cycled next to us on his bike to give us directions. He kept saying 'un stylo... un stylo'. All he wanted was a pen!”