A NORTH-East student says she learned invaluable life lessons during a year volunteering overseas.

Catriona Duffy, a Durham University student from Stokesley, North Yorkshire, spent a year teaching music and helping with youth work in Belize City.

The 19-year-old travelled with the Journey With Us programme run by the international Christian charity Us.

She said: “Everyone I met, especially my host family, showed me so much grace and kindness.

“They truly showed me how to live out a Christian faith day by day.

“The experience has made me a lot more confident in myself and my faith. I will now be more generous with my time and money and more patient with others.”

Miss Duffy, part of St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Stokesley, started a theology and politics degree at Durham in October.

For more information on Journey With Us, visit weareus.org.uk/journey