BAR HARBOR – Melissa Clark of Tremont has never been out of the state, but if all goes well, she’ll leave not only Maine next winter, but also the nation and the hemisphere.

Clark is among 10 girls from throughout Hancock County who will spend 10 days next February in The Gambia, the smallest nation on the continent of Africa, where the life expectancy of women is 56 years and men, 52.

Sponsored by the Bar Harbor YWCA and the Women’s Collective, the middle school pupils were chosen randomly from about 40 girls who submitted applications to go on the trip. They hail from Surry, Deer Isle, Blue Hill, Orland, Stockton Springs, Brooklin, Franklin, Trenton and Mount Desert Island.

The group faces a daunting challenge, however: raising $40,000 so that all 10 girls can go, regardless of their family income.

Clark said she was interested in going to Africa not only for the travel experience, but also to “discover a different culture” and make new friends in a country that struggles with poverty.

“Everyone is nice,” Clark said of the group of girls, who are just now getting to know each other. “I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

The Women’s Collective was founded in 2002 in Bar Harbor to provide programs and opportunities for Hancock County women and girls to reach their full potential.

“I have complete confidence that we can [raise $40,000] for what I believe will be a life-changing experience for the girls,” Women’s Collective founder and director Milja Brecher-DeMuro said Sunday while watching the girls tie-dye the T-shirts they will wear on their African trip.

The group chose Gambia for their “peaceful excursion” because Anne Smallidge of Mount Desert, a collective member and YWCA board member, knows the country well. She worked as a Peace Corps health educator in the small town of Jambanjelly in the early 1980s and has returned a half-dozen times on her own because of her love for the place.

“I became very attached” to Jambanjelly, Smallidge said Sunday, explaining how she has worked with Gambia girls to raise their self-esteem and confidence by teaching them photography and writing.

The Gambia girls will help the Maine group during its 10-day stay, she said, making the trip a cultural exchange for both groups of teens.

The Maine girls will bring a little bit of Africa back to their hometowns when they travel around the county to promote racial equality and empowerment for women.

The girls met Sunday to develop a plan for raising the $40,000. A spaghetti supper is planned from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Friday at the Surry Elementary School, but the group realizes it will take more than supper fund-raisers to realize its dream.

Brecher-DeMuro hopes for many small contributors and a few very large ones to raise the needed cash.

Donations for the trip can be mailed to The Women’s Collective, 36 Mount Desert St., Bar Harbor 04609.