A VALE of Clwyd teacher will be spending her summer break volunteering in Africa.
Nia Roberts, 49, is a teacher at St Brigid's School, in Denbigh.
This summer, though, she will be swapping the classroom to spend time volunteering her efforts in a village in the Gambia.
Locally, she has been collecting items such as baby clothes and toiletries to send over to the charity Sponsoring Medical and Academic Access (SAAMA) in the Gambian village of Wullinkamma.
Nia said: "I lost my husband very suddenly two years ago, he had muscular dystrophy.
"After caring for him and going through the bereavement and sadness as a family, I decided to raise money for something positive and try and help someone.
"I started sponsoring a little girl, Isatu, who, through sponsorship, is now able to go to school.
"Her uniform and books are paid for through sponsorship.
"Next to the school in Wullinkamma in the Gambia is a clinic which provides formula milk for motherless babies, and through one of the co-ordinators Delyth Dalimore, who is from Swansea originally but now lives in the Gambia, I decided to spend my summer holidays this year volunteering in the village."
Ahead of her trip, Nia says the support she has received from St Brigid's pupils and staff, and the community, has been important.
"Through the pupils, staff and the community we have a huge shipping of baby and children clothes, nappies, sanitary protection and toiletries to send over to the village," she added.
"I’ll spend my summer helping give the clothes, nappies and toiletries to the carers who look after the babies, they quite often have to walk five miles or more to get to the clinic."
Friends and neighbours have all rallied together to help box all the items ready to be shipped out, said Nia.
"I start my journey two days after school shuts for the summer, and come back at the end of August," she added.
"So I’ll stay there for approximately five-and-a-half weeks.
"I’ve always wanted to travel but have never been in the position to do so in the past with teaching, raising a family and then caring for my husband.
"So I’m grasping the opportunity at the grand old age of 49!"
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