A HEADTEACHER’S son who went to Africa to teach orphans after dropping out of school said the experience has turned his life around.

Henry Ettinger, 19, did his GCSEs at Cokethorpe School near Witney and began studying for his A-Levels - but soon decided they weren’t for him.

His father Damian, who is head at the school, decided the best lesson he could learn was to go to Africa as part of a scheme with the Abingdon-based Nasio Trust.

The charity sent out volunteers to teach more than 400 orphans at its two dedicated community day centres in Western Kenya.

Mr Ettinger set off in February 2013 and spent seven months living in a mud hut at Mumias in western Kenya, teaching IT skills and languages to the orphans who range from toddlers to teenagers.

Mr Ettinger said: “I started A-Levels but I didn’t take an interest in them.

“It just wasn’t for me. I’m more on the hands on practical side.

“I taught English and ICT to the orphans and their teachers and I helped build houses and helped out in any way I could.”

Cokethorpe parent Dave Carrington from Witney, used to work in ICT and donated laptops so Mr Ettinger could use them as a teaching tool.

Now he is working with Witney-based computer firm Ability Systems to recondition old laptops and appealed for people to donate more computers, ready for Henry’s next three-week trip to Africa later this month.

Mr Ettinger said: “We used the laptops to teach the basics. They had never seen them before.

“They started off learning to turn them on and then by the end they were using Word and Paint.”

Mr Ettinger was struck by the poverty he saw and said it has helped him not take things for granted.

Since his return he has studied a business course at Abingdon and Witney College and is going on to study music production in Oxford next year.

He added: “It changed my life and gave me more focus in life to do better. You realise what’s important in life and what matters.”

Mr Ettinger is now appealing for people to donate more laptops to aid his teaching.

Anyone who wishes to donate a computer should drop it off at Ability Systems in Witney High Street.