LINKS between schools in south Devon and The Gambia have been strengthened, thanks to a recent trip there by schools' representatives and Bruce and Janet McLellan, from Buckfastleigh, who have been at the forefront in fostering the friendships.

The party included Richard Penhale, ICT systems manager from South Dartmoor Community College, Ashburton, and Kay Graymore, a retired teacher from Knowles Hill School, Newton Abbot. Mr Penhale took 11 laptops with him and installed them, plus a broadband connection at Ebenezer Senior Secondary School in Serrekunda, South Dartmoor's twinned school.

Money for the computers was raised by the school council through non-uniform days, staging the Weakest Link and their own version of Pop Idol. It now means that pupils will be able to exchange emails and pictures with ease.

'They were absolutely delighted. I was overwhelmed by the reaction. Really, it was only a small thing in my mind, but for them it was beyond their wildest dreams,' he said. He said the Africans were particularly impressed by the plastic film that had to be peeled from the screens – proof that the laptops were new and not hand-me-downs.

Mr Penhale was critical of ageing equipment sent out by well-meaning companies, which was expensive to run and often incomplete. 'We're just creating a scrapheap of old IT in Africa that they don't have the facilities to deal with,' he said.

South Dartmoor students have been able to see for themselves just how delighted the Gambians were thanks to a video Mr Penhale brought back in which students talk about the difference the computers will make. College principal, Ray Tarleton, said the link enabled them to support a school which needs to develop and also opened a window on the world for their own students.

They are likely to find the differences startling. Mobile phones might be common in The Gambia, but when was the last time an English schoolchild had to work on the school farm in order to pay their fees? And yet that is what they are hoping to do at Ebenezer school, to help those who would otherwise have to break off their education to earn some money.

The same idea is being planned at Farafenni Senior Secondary, 100 miles upcountry. That school formed a link with Knowles Hill School four years ago, thanks to Kay Graymore, who has taught at both. She went bearing £1,000 raised by Knowles Hill children to help pay for an irrigation scheme.

In an innovative mirror project, Knowles Hill is planning its own agricultural project, to be called The Grub Club. Still in its early stages, a large neglected piece of schoolgrounds has been cleared ready to be planted up with fruit and veg.

The labour will be provided by students with the produce disappearing into the school kitchens and hopefully encouraging a greater interest in healthy eating.

Deputy head Alison McDermott said that the project would open up a raft of curriculum-based opportunities. 'It's about sustainability, how people are surviving in different countries and cultures and there's the geographical aspect about the growing season and what they are able to grow.'

The arduous trip upcountry to Farafenni was also made by Rotarian Bruce McLellan and his wife Janet, there on their seventh visit. They also returned to Jallanbantang infants school, 40 miles upriver.

In time-honoured manner, the entire village turned out to greet them with drums, dancing and local folk characters dressed in eye-popping costumes.

Last year the centrepiece was the opening of a new well. This year, it was the turn of a new school kitchen, built with help from Kingsbridge Estuary and the Ashburton clubs and central Rotary funding. Recently returned home, Mr McLellan said that, while The Gambia remains one of the poorest countries, things were improving.