By the time you read this, 51-year-old mum Mandy Warwick will be winging her way to a remote village near Katmandu.

The primary school teacher has quit her job and rented out her house to go on a gap year.

Mandy, who lives in Witney, is one of a growing army of older professionals proving that backpacks aren’t just for students.

According to Voluntary Services Overseas, which helps people find placements all over the world, most of their volunteers are in their early 40s.

VSO chief executive Marg Mayne pointed out: “Volunteering is a fantastic way to change your life and those of other people.

“For anyone looking for a mid-career break, or to make more use of their skills after retirement, we have scores of places that need filling.

“You could be training teachers in Ethiopia, working with midwives in Sierra Leone, or helping a grassroots organisation in India to defend women’s rights.

“Most of our volunteers are experienced professionals giving up a year or two to share their skills.”

After 30 years of teaching, 17 of them at Clanfield primary school, Mandy is ready for a change.

With 20-year-old son Sam at university, she sees this as the perfect moment to follow her dream.

She explained: “It’s a bit of empty-nest syndrome, because suddenly there’s just the two of us in the house. “I was feeling disgruntled with the way education is becoming so data-led and increasingly fed up with working six-days a week. “I started thinking ‘There has got to be more to life than this’. “Once I got thinking about what I could do instead, it was a light-bulb moment.

“You get the children off your hands and then you might need to look after your elderly parents, so this is definitely a window of opportunity right now.

“It’s a feeling that, if you don’t go now, it may never happen.”

Mandy will be training primary school teachers for the Sisters for Sisters charity in Dhading near Katmandu.

She has been asked to contribute £1,500 towards costs and has raised £1,000 so far.

When she arrives in Nepal, she will spend six weeks training and learning the language.

Business analyst husband Chris, 51, is taking a 12-month sabbatical from his job at Oxfam, so he can join Mandy later this year.

The couple spent four years living and volunteering in Zimbabwe after finishing university, so know some of the pros and cons.

Mandy added: “It has always been in our minds that we’d volunteer abroad again but we have elderly relatives and various other things that made us put it on the back-burner. “When I told work colleagues I was going to Nepal, they were pretty surprised.

“I loved working there but I’ve got to do something else now. “I don’t know much about what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be living but it’s going to be basic, with no electricity for some parts of the day.

“I feel scared and excited at the same time. “One of the things I’m taking is a photo album I’ve put together with pictures of family and friends and postcards of Witney.”

She believes taking time out will help her rethink her long-term career plans.

“I am not worried about when I get back because teacher supply work is easy to come by and we always need teachers,” she explained. “But I am going to re-think my career and am hoping this will open up some new avenues for when I get back.

“Employers value it because they see that your experiences and fresh way of looking at things is very useful.”

For more information about VSO call 020 8780 7500 or visit www.vso.org.uk To donate to Mandy’s fundraising total for Sisters for Sisters, go to www.justgiving.com/ user/43248794