JOY Maund's three children already see her as a super mum, and soon she will take on more responsibility by adopting an African boy.

Joy was commended in Asda's Wondermum competition after being nominated by stepdaughter Katie.

The 44-year-old, from Blackwood, is full of enthusiasm for her work in a Ugandan village and is now planning to add to her family by adopting a 12-year-old village boy.

She originally decided to set up a school in a rural area of the country after her father Tom Lewis, 72, went there with a charity six years ago.

"My husband Ron and I then decided to visit and see what had been done in the village, Kasala, which is about 30 miles from the capital city," Joy said.

"We had helped to finance the work and decided we wanted to do something there ourselves.

"We didn't want to be involved with an orphanage, it's not very forward-thinking for the 21st century. We felt we needed to take some responsibility."

Since that time three years ago, the couple have raised more than £12,000 for a school project, which is called House of Joy.

The money has paid for the construction of three classrooms, two nurseries and an office, and they are about to open a clinic.

"When we first went there, none of the children had ever been to school. They couldn't even count to five."

"Many of the children were suffering from malnutrition and were barely clothed."

Now they all wear a uniform to school and the children receive a good meal each day.

Accommodation has been built in the village to attract three teachers to the rural area.

"We wanted to make sure that we kept the teachers and that they did not go to work in the cities," said Joy.

"So we built two-room houses for them, with communal kitchens and bathrooms, but they are really special there.

"Most of the accommodation in the village is huts."

The project now needs people to sponsor the children and their education.

Sponsors can pay either £30 a month to keep a teacher, or £4 a month for a child's education, or £1 a month to pay for one child's meals.

"Their education is free, but the £4 helps us to buy resources for the children," said Joy. All sponsors will receive a photograph of their child, two reports a year and eventually, as the children's reading and writing improves, letters from the youngsters themselves.

At present there are 250 children at the school, and another 70 due to start within a year.

Joy has been out to Uganda five times in the last couple of years - she is going again in May - and she and Ron use all their holidays from their jobs to carry out the work.

Their aim is to make the village self-sufficient and they then hope they may be able to carry out projects in other villages, or even other countries.

The couple are now also planning to adopt 12-year-old Nicholas, an orphan from the Ugandan village.

They are currently struggling with red tape that has previously prevented anyone who has not lived in Uganda for three years from adopting a child there.

But they hope to have won their battle by the autumn, and to bring Nicholas back to their home in Waunllwyn Crescent, Blackwood.

"We have promised him that he can come to live with us," said Joy.

She already has two stepchildren, Jamie and Katie, who are both in their 20s and whom she has brought up since they were young, and her own son, 14-year-old Joseph.

Katie nominated her stepmother for the Asda Wondermum award, writing in her nomination letter that Joy had "made our house a home" and that she had been "a blessing in disguise and a joy to our lives".

"She has supported us and has been an inspiration to us all as well as going back and forth to Uganda to help street children," she wrote.

Joy, who works in a surgery in Ystrad Mynach, won the first round of the competition at the Blackwood supermarket and was a runner-up in the national finals.

She was treated to a trip to London for the awards ceremony, which included a visit to the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

The family also enjoyed a trip to Disneyland in Paris.

But Joy said the experience has been strange, as it reminded her that her oldest son and her daughter were her stepchildren.

"Some people had not even realised that they weren't my own," she said. "I always think of them as my children.

"It was easy to become a mum to them, even though I was only 21 at the time."

She feels "very privileged" that she and her family have been able to help people in Africa.

"Lots of people have said to me that they would love to do something like this, and I feel very lucky that we have had this opportunity."

l Anyone interested in helping by sponsoring a child or would like to know more about House of Joy, should telephone 01443 837568.

The charity's website is www.houseofjoy.co.uk