A TEACHER is swapping her life at a top school to help tackle poverty in far-east Asia.

Sheila Marshall, 48, is leaving for Mongolia in February where she will spend the next 12 months working as a tourism adviser and coordinator to help boost local tourism projects.

The placement has been organised by the international development charity, Voluntary Service Overseas, and represents a big challenge for Sheila, who works at St Mary's College, Stonyhurst.

She will be working in Sagsai Soum, western Mongolia, to develop the rural economy through community based tourism projects that aim to tackle poverty in rural areas.

She said: "Now is the right time for me. I don't want to get to retirement and look back and wish I had done more with my life. I have been lucky that my employers at St Mary's College have supported me by granting me a sabbatical.

"I just hope I can play a small part in improving the quality of life for the community I will be working with."

The main challenge that Sheila, of Brockhall Village, is worried about is the need to learn a new language and to cope with the extreme weather.

When she first arrived in Mongolia there will be a few weeks of language classes which will help, but the temperature in winter is extremely harsh. She said: "This is to put value back in to my life.

"I'm extremely nervous as time gets near, particularly because of the climate because we've been down to freezing here this winter yet its so much colder over there."

"Since they came out of communism the economy has not been doing well so a lot of people have been abandoning the rural parts for the cities.

"The idea is to bring money in to the rural areas and tourism is a big thing, eco-tourism especially. I'll be helping them on this." Mongolia is in eastern Europe and borders Russia to the north and China to the south.

Voluntary Service Overseas organises work placements for skilled professionals like Sheila from a range of different work backgrounds.