MOST schools have a caretaker. Very few have a snake killer. But at Gbderomede School in the West African state of Benin, his role is vital.

The school, in a particularly poor area where mountains of rubbish punctuate the dry soil and scrub, backs onto swamp land. It is overrun by poisonous snakes and at least once a week a child has to be taken to hospital to be treated after being bitten.

What Gbedromede School needs is a wall to keep out the snakes, and it is this that Jacqui Molyneux, a vet from the North-East, is determined to see built.

"No matter how hard they try to catch the snakes, it's impossible to kill them all," she says. "We are fundraising to build a six foot wall around the school to stop the snakes and then all the undergrowth can be cleared from within the grounds."

Jacqui, 49, has visited this impoverished country with Rotary International several times over the last three years to help identify those in the direst need and to raise money to improve facilities and sanitation.

To date, this determined woman - who also finds the time to run a successful veterinary hospital near Consett - has raised thousands of pounds with Rotary International to provide better medical and educational facilities and equipment for Benin and neighbouring Niger. She has even had an ultrasound machine converted from animal to human use which she then took to the region to help in the care of pregnant women and to aid more accurate diagnosis of conditions like stomach cancer.

More than anything else, though, she is determined to help improve the lives of the children of Benin.

She tells me about the harsh realities experienced by school age children, growing up in a population where the average lifespan is still only 53 for men and 54 for women. She is a firm believer in the idea that if you help to improve the lives of the children, then you can help to improve a country for the better in a much more successful way than direct aid can do.

"If a child has parents who are well off enough to send them to school and to provide a uniform, books and pencils, it is likely to be their only salvation from a life of grinding poverty," she says. "The fact is that although there are nice areas and many signs of the country developing, such as improved sanitation and access to clean water supplies, there are still huge, extremely impoverished slum areas in Benin."

The 1,500 children at Gbedromede primary school in the Benin capital of Cotonou are among the lucky ones. The pupils are mostly boys because educating girls is seen as less of a priority, so Jacqui has pledged to help as many young girls through school as possible.

"Girls are the future in families and in society. If you enable more females to go to school and help to provide the right equipment and facilities for them to make the most of their time there, you have a huge social effect," she says.

"Research has shown that the more educated a girl is, the less likely it is she will go on to have a big family, and so this has a direct impact on population and overcrowding."

Jacqui is glad to help but there are some heart-warming examples of how local people have tried to help themselves. "There is a pastor who gives up a third of his already meagre salary to help more local children get an education," she says. "It costs around £20 a year to send a child to school with the books and uniforms which they insist on. So many people without outside help just can't afford the expense, which is the tragic thing."

Whatever their financial constraints, most schools don't have such a problem with snakes though. Gbedromede is overrun. "When the kids come into school in the morning, they very often find these creatures in their desks, and they are poisonous," she says. The school has tried to improve this desperate situation by employing a night-watchman to kill as many as possible each night. "The minimum he kills is three, but it's impossible to kill them all," says Jacqui.

Building a wall to keep the snakes out is Phase One of the plans for the school. "Because the wall has the dual purpose of making the site secure, we can then start to put better equipment into the school," says Jacqui.

Amid the poverty, crime has taken hold in Cotonou, so it has so far been impractical to provide anything other than the most basic facilities at the school.

"The idea is to fund-raise to help provide better educational facilities and a kitchen because too many children are arriving at school with nothing to eat or drink. And it's hot, very hot, so providing access to better facilities is a priority," says Jacqui. With the help of several other Rotarians, she is aiming to raise at least $32,000.

She has staged fundraising events throughout the North-East and hopes to hit her target by January when she returns to the region. "I would then like to be able to say 'we can start building now'," she says. "I think that would be the perfect late Christmas present."

n To donate to the Snake School Appeal please send cheques made payable to the West Africa Trust, c/o Jacqui Molyneux at the Prince Bishop Veterinary Hospital, 1 Plantation Street, Leadgate, Consett, DH8 7PP. To find out more about the work of Rotary International and its fundraising campaigns, log on to: www.rotary-ribi.org/ or write to Rotary International in Britain and Ireland (RIBI) at Kinwarton Road, Alcester, Warwickshire, B49 6PB, or call 01789-765411 for more information.