STUDENTS at Wilmslow High School went on a day of fasting to raise awareness of starvation in the third world.

Pupils, who normally enjoy hot dinners, went without from breakfast until tea-time to highlight the human tragedy in Southern Africa.

English teacher Anne Dowling arranged the hunger strike to highlight the plight of millions of Africans currently at risk from starvation.

As her own pupils got a small taste of life without the tuck shop, the 28-year-old teacher hoped the stunt would trigger a response from Wilmslow residents.

Just a year ago, Anne accompanied Wilmslow High School students on a World Challenge Expedition to Malawi, the worst hit country in the southern African famine.

She said: "My main memory is of how warm and friendly a welcome we received and what fantastic hospitality we enjoyed during the whole trip.

"It was obvious that these people were very poor but they did everything they could to make our stay a wonderful experience.

"I feel we now owe it to them to make people aware of the terrible turn of fate that is putting so many people's lives in jeopardy."

Hundreds of children have already died of starvation in Malawi and, after another barren harvest, 3.2 million people are at immediate risk.

It is feared the death toll could soar beyond anything ever recorded if international aid currently feeding 13 million people dries up.

The charity Tearfund launched a Southern Africa Famine Crisis appeal in June and has already raised over £4.3 million.

International agencies, including the European Union, have pledged even greater sums as part of an aid rescue package.

But latest figures released by the United Nations estimate that only a quarter of the necessary relief has been pledged.

Now pressure is building from international aid agencies to launch a massive worldwide media campaign, on a scale not seen since the crisis in Ethiopia during the 1980s.

Anne Dowling hopes that her contribution will trigger a response in Wilmslow.

She said: "We hope to get as many children in the school to join in as we can. I know it will never compare, but our aim is to give our pupils a glimpse of what it is like to go without food.

"Secondly, we hope this little effort will raise public awareness in Wilmslow and maybe contribute in some small way to helping save the people that gave us so much happiness on our visit to Malawi."