City teachers swap Leith for Malawi

A HUSBAND and wife are swapping their teaching jobs in the Capital to volunteer in a school in Africa.

Fiona and James Hutchinson, both 30, are leaving for Malawi in August, and will be placed at Nansato Primary School for a year.

The couple are excited, and nervous about the challenges ahead.

Mrs Hutchinson, a nursery teacher at Lorne Primary, said: "The school has about 1000 pupils and there are only six teachers so there will be between 100 and 150 children in each class."

Her husband, who teaches at George Watson's, added: "Many of the children are Aids orphans and will be the main bread-winners at the age of just eight or nine."

The couple will return to their Edinburgh jobs in a year's time.