DOZENS of pupils at a York secondary school plan to live on £1 a day to raise the profile of global poverty ahead of a trip to Africa.

About 30 pupils and eight staff from Manor CE Academy are planning to visit Malawi, one of the world’s poorest countries, next year where many people live on only £1 a day.

While there, the pupils plan to take part in a number of development projects.

Ahead of the trip, students and some families intend to spend five days feeding themselves on a total of £5 to try and imagine what life must be like.

Group leader Julian Watson, who has endured the £1 a day test, said it will be tough.

He said: “There is nothing pleasant about it. I was completely miserable at the sheer boredom. Food is normally a pleasure – when you force yourself to survive on such a small amount of money, you quickly realise there is little variety, the food is very plain and you miss basics like butter, sugar and coffee.”

But one of the group, Charlie Hosier, 14, said he was ready for the challenge – and his whole family had decided to join in.

He said: “We’ll have one big shop – well, perhaps not that big a shop – and stock up on vegetables, I suppose, pasta and rice; whatever we can get cheap.”

Paige Richardson, also 14, said she would be taking the challenge. “I’m going to need the support from my family not to have a bit of what they’re having – they will be eating normally,” she said.

Sophie Jones, 14, said her strategy was to take on the task with her mum.

She said: “So that’s £2 a day between us. It’s a challenge, but it will show us how people in Malawi can manage to survive.”

The big test begins on September 30 for five days.

The Year 10 and 11 students were interviewed before being accepted into the group.

Mr Watson is hosting a global poverty presentation at Manor on Tuesday, September 24, starting at 7pm, and members of the public are welcome.

The title of the hour-long talk is 1.4 Billion Reasons, highlighting the plight of the 1.4 billion people across the world who live in poverty.