A CHANDLER'S Ford teenager is busy packing her bags for a mission which will take her thousands of miles away.

Sarah Nance, of Lake Road, is among youngsters from across the UK involved in global projects in association with the Christian mission movement, Scripture Union.

India, South Africa and France are the locations, where for six months they will be working on projects in schools and activity centres for children and young people.

Later this week Sarah, 18, will be boarding a plane bound for South Africa. She will be based at Port Shepstone, just along the coast from Durban.

Although slightly nervous about going into what will be the unknown, she says: "I am looking forward to the challenge."

She says: "I will be working with kids in schools and camps, helping in whatever way I can."

Part of her work will involve teaching life skills to children and young people from various backgrounds.

Sarah spent two and a half years living in America and says: "It really shaped my view of foreign cultures and my acceptance and understanding of them."

While she is in South Africa she will be living with a family and hopes her mission will give her a clear view of life in the Third World.

A former pupil at Southampton's King Edward VI School, Sarah is using her gap year to take part in the mission. She plans to study psychology at Royal Holloway University.

Scripture Union is an international mission movement working with churches in more than 130 countries to bring the good news about Jesus Christ to children, young people and families and to encourage them to develop spiritually through the Bible and prayer.