HUNDREDS of youngsters are learning about life as a refugee with the help of a mobile project.

The Escape to Safety trailer, from the Teesside One World Centre, in Middlesbrough, has attracted 300 visitors during its two-week stay at Redcar Community College, including college students and children from local primary schools.

Youngsters wear mp3 players to tour the trailer, listening to audio and watching films which highlight reasons why refugees are often unable to stay in their homelands, the process of seeking asylum and their eventual adaptation to a different society.

Carole Brown, the college's assistant headteacher, said: "The trailer is a real eye-opening experience for young people, to help them to appreciate the circumstances which force refugees to abandon their homes and flee to safety elsewhere.

"It dispels many myths about asylum seekers, and goes a long way towards helping us to achieve a harmonious society."

Caroline Garvey, headteacher at St Benedict's Catholic VA Primary School, Redcar, sent a group of year five pupils to visit the trailer as part of their citizenship studies.

She said: "Some of the stories featured are extremely moving and have real impact."

The interactive project charts the arrival of refugees in a different country, featuring images from their home town, their stay in a detention centre, the immigration process and their potential future homes and lives.

Hilaire Agnama, project officer for Teesside One World Centre, said: "It is important that local residents are given the facts with which to form their own opinions, and I am delighted so many young people are having their perceptions altered."