Pupils from an Oxford school saw at first hand the difference their fundraising has made to people in one of the poorest countries in the world.

Twelve students from St Edward's School, in Woodstock Road, have recently returned from a fortnight-long trip to Malawi where they helped transform a children's centre and built a playground at a school for HIV orphans.

They also spent a day at Opportunity International's Bank of Malawi (OIBM), which loans money to villagers to help them get businesses off the ground.

Opportunity International is a not-for-profit Oxford-based organisation, which provides access to collateral-free loans and basic financial services to poor entrepreneurs, empowering them to start or expand their own businesses.

Thanks to fundraising efforts over the past two years - including a sponsored parachute jump at Weston-on-the Green airfield - St Edward's donated £5,000 to OIBM and so were able to see exactly how their money was being used.

The group spent an afternoon with field officers from the bank and met people applying for loans averaging £20.

Nick Coram-Wright, one of three teachers from the school who accompanied the students, said: "We met one woman who was applying for her sixth loan and explained that as a result of profits from previous loans she had been able to expand the stock at her shop and send her children to the nearby private school.

"The local government school was simply too far away.

"This made us all realise just what a difference the loans can make.

"This, and the trip as a whole, opened our students' eyes and really gave them the chance to get their hands dirty."

The group then spent five days working on Likoma Islandcorr, working with charity Malawi Dream, to build the playground at a school for HIV orphans.

Mr Coram-Wright said: "While half our group laboured in the sun, the other half were occupied turning white walls into a multi-coloured fest of numbers, letters and hand prints.

"What we will remember above all is the enthusiastic welcome given to us by the villagers we met.

"Malawi certainly deserves its reputation as the warm heart of Africa and we hope we have taken the first steps towards a long-lasting relationship with the country."

The school hopes to make a return visit either next summer or in summer 2010.

The students who went on the trip were: Bella Bowker, Harriette Brown, Gabriell Cartwright, Augusta Charlton, Harriet Conafray, Harry Evans, Olivia Garnier, Eleanor Horwood, Jessica Hull, Elizabeth Jackson, Joshua Phillips and Peter Roberts.

Mr Coram-Wright was joined by teacher Judy Young and Lynne Dunn, manager of St Edward's health centre.