ARMED with a suitcase full of hand-made toys, clothes and vital supplies, a former postman jumped on a plane back to Africa on Sunday to visit the school he founded.

Ron Cavie, of Prestatyn, will spend a month at St Ronnie’s Academy in the village of Shanzu, a suburb of Mombasa in Kenya.

The school opened its doors with just nine pupils in January 2013. It now has 150.

Speaking to the Journal, before his flight on Sunday, the father of three and grandfather of one detailed the luggage he was taking.

It included hand-made dolls and animals, dresses and T-shirts for children aged six to eight, 10 mosquito nets, toothbrushes, hundreds of pens and pencils, reading books, two glove puppet balloons, toothpaste, skipping ropes, two calculators, dressing slips for wounds and special treats in the form of Easter eggs.

"They don’t have them in Kenya, so the children have never seen one," said Ron.

"I’m also taking lots of sweets, chocolates, crayons, colouring pens and more of course two Journal newspapers.

“I would like to say a bit thank you to all the kind people who have donated all these lovely gifts for me to take to Africa.”

Ron has spent years fundraising to transform and add to the school, which started off as a derelict building.

In 2012, he struck a friendship with Lilly Pendo, who was a teacher at Little Angels, also in Shanzu.

Little Angels was in danger of becoming overcrowding, so Lilly and Ron set out on a mission and created St Ronnie’s Academy. Lilly is the headteacher at St Ronnie’s.

Ron added: “I’m going out for a month this time. Lilly and I plan to create a new kitchen outside and paint again at the weekends when the children are not there.

“It seems that this needs to be done every year. With 150 children, that is expected I suppose.”