Harmony and Isiah

A group of young Chelsea mothers are looking to achieve their Duke of Edinburgh gold awards with their children in tow.

The Kensington and Chelsea residents, Harmony Vasadidi, Hayley Anglim, Laura Pham, Emily Mailes, Daniela Oliveira-Miguel and Rennice Henry, all aged between 17 and 23, met through a young parents group called Break 4 U.

Having achieved their bronze and silver DofE awards, the women are going over to Holland, travelling for eight hours a day, for four days, half walking and half cycling while taking their children in trailers behind them.

The whole group, mothers and children, will also have to camp and cook a meal each night.

Emily said: “After my bronze expedition, I had gained so much more confidence and also realised how much I could achieve in a day!

“When I became pregnant I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life but this helped motivate me to think towards my future and making something of myself.”

The group also plan to research and evaluate sexual health, pregnancy prevention schemes and young parent support groups and then implement the methods to lower teen pregnancy in the UK.

Emily added: “I’m really excited about the research element to our trip, we’re going to discuss with their experts how we could adapt sex and relationship education in the UK to lower our teenage pregnancy rate and support young mothers.

“We are hoping this can be the start of a business run by young mothers, for young mothers with an emphasis on preventing teen pregnancy”