CHILDREN at a Radcliffe school are proving that distance is no barrier to making friends with children in Africa.

St Mary’s RC Primary School, in Belgrave Street, has formed a partnership with Akado Primary School in Kenya.

The children will exchange letters and photographs and learn about each others’ lives and cultures.

MP for Bury South Ivan Lewis, who is international development minister, visited the school on Monday to launch the partnership during a special assembly.He told the children about life in Kenya and the lack of food, healthcare and education.

He also spoke about the work being done by the Government to make poverty history.

Mr Lewis said he hoped to visit Akado Primary later this year and would take letters and photographs on behalf of the pupils at St Mary’s.

Joining Mr Lewis at the assembly was Marie Staunton, chief executive of Plan UK, a children’s charity which works to establish links between schools around the world.

She told the children that Akado Primary was less than 30 miles from the small village where US president Barack Obama’s father was born.

At the end of the assembly, she and the MP answered questions from pupils about housing, jobs, and other aspects of life in Kenya.

They were also interested in whether the children at Akado Primary received homework and wore school uniforms. After his visit, Mr Lewis said: “It is such a lovely idea for the school to link up with a school in Africa.

“If we are going to break down barriers between people living in very different circumstances, then one of the most powerful ways to do that is to encourage children to have relationships with other children.

“This is just the start of the project, but hopefully it will build a positive link between children in Radcliffe and Kenya.”