St Wilfrid's raises money every year to support the communities in Freetown through the various projects partnered by Mission Direct including the St George's Foundation. Worshippers collect aid and gifts including clothes and toys, windup torches, crutches and over-the-counter medicines like paracetamol. This year the volunteers contributed £18,000 to project funds, and Laurence Brooks , MD of Banner Financial Services Group Limited and one of the group recalls:

“I first visited Sierra Leone on a short term mission trip in 2004, and I was horrified to witness the hundreds of maimed people who had lost their limbs in the conflict. Having now worked with Mission Direct for a number of years I know all the money we raise in the UK will go directly to improving the opportunities and life skills of these brutalised children – it is invaluable help.”

Despite the destruction of the infrastructure in East Freetown random signs of earlier British colonialism still survive, as do more modern innovations like mobile phones. West Freetown , saved from the worst destruction of the war, is relatively well maintained, and the famous Cotton Tree stands as a potent reminder of the continuing battle for freedom. In its shade the first freed slaves sheltered and the tree remains a national symbol of Sierra Leone . The capital is twinned with the city of Hull in recognition of the birthplace of William Wilberforce. In this 200 th anniversary of his Bill through Parliament our thoughts should be with Freetown and Sierra Leone as her people struggle to free themselves today from poverty and under-development.

The St George's Foundation focuses on the care of under-14s who are most vulnerable and orphaned as a result of the brutal civil war. Many have been abandoned after being used as young soldiers in the rebel army. It is here that a new centre is being built to give a home to these street kids, taking them out of the city into a clean environment, giving them the chance to live the childhood that war deprived them of. The building project, which employs local tradesmen alongside the self funded volunteers, calls for many skills from making bricks with cement and sand, laying water pipes (overseen by the water engineer in the team), to raising the accommodation.

It was here that the team met Adele, a British woman who has devoted her life to finding solutions for the children under her care at St George's . I n association with other local organisations, the Foundation has a great record in tracing families and friends. The children are reintegrated with their family where possible, and local school fees are paid to see their opportunities are maximised. Counsellors follow up these children in their resettled environment on a regular basis.

The hearts of all the volunteers were touched by the plight of local tradesman Mohammed who was working with them. His mother and two brothers were killed in the war. He had received a hospital bill for his father of £160, and it was plain to see that on his salary of 50p a day this insurmountable burden was crippling him. So the church group clubbed together to pay it for him. The relief on his face and in his general bearing was immediate and evident for all to see. A small gift at Christmas time.

Mission Aid also supports the local church school, Hope Christian School , and to celebrate the arrival of the St Wilfrid's group the children performed their nativity play under the watchful eye of head teacher Pastor Joseph (Mary inexplicably gave birth to a blue rabbit!). Pastor Joseph is passionate about the school which has performed well in all national exams. Children, many from Muslim backgrounds, are taught the Christian faith and places are highly sought after.

Wherever they went the team was continually surprised and humbled by the victims of the war: ‘I spend all day talking to God, so I am happy' – said one lady who had lived at the Leonard Cheshire home for polio victims since she was a baby. With badly disabled limbs it was hard not to feel moved by her commitment.

Hastings Polio Ladies Association was started by ladies who outgrew the Leonard Cheshire home. It was clear to the group on their visit to the Association that the ongoing work of Mission Direct was having a profound effect on the lives of these women, many of whom had been raped by the rebels, and needed to find a means of support for themselves and the resulting children. Mission Direct came to their assistance by building accommodation and showers on their site so that their workshop could be used to teach the ladies life skills - soap making, tie dye, batik and clothes making - in order to make a living.

The St Wilifrid's team arrived with new clothes for the women's Christmas celebrations, and in return the ladies insisted on running up garments to thank them - a hilarious catwalk moment followed! Miriama, the leader, was so delighted with the Marks and Spencer dress included in the gifts that she refused to remove the price tag so everyone could appreciate the value of the present.

Christmas Day for the volunteers in Freetown dawned with a church service followed by sandwiches and rolls for lunch. The volunteers had a limit of 10,000 Leones to spend on their Christmas presents to each other, which sounds a lot but actually represents £2.00 and required significant creativity given the circumstances! Then, acting on a request from the Hasting ladies everyone got involved in digging the vegetable plot - the physical challenges posed by the hard manual labour were just too much for them. Fortunately one of the team managed a garden centre in the UK and so this presented few problems, just hard graft, and the out of date seeds donated will no doubt flourish well.

Throughout their stay the team had their meals at the Mission Direct long-term staff house at the King George VI Coronation Home for the Elderly . This residential home looks after, and aims to improve, the health and welfare of the destitute elderly people in their care. Since 2004 Mission Direct has been working here to improve the accommodation and sanitation, and on Boxing Day the team took great pleasure in providing everyone with a rare treat – a meal of a meat and rice. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the dormitories for the inmates and enjoying time talking and worshiping together. Salman Johl was among the worshippers; he is one of the Muslim inmates to become a Christian since the involvement of Mission Direct. He is in his 30s, has 4 bullets in his back and as a consequence is paralysed for life.

With elections planned for the 28 th July 2007, the first since United Nations peacekeepers left in 2005; there are signs that the situation in Sierre Leone may be about to change to the benefit of the people.

For the volunteers from Horley it was an extraordinary experience, and a Christmas like no other, with many valuable and life enhancing lessons learnt. Not least the fact that the international language of football crosses all barriers, as does a good game of ‘What's the time Mr Wolf'!

As the number of overseas mission projects undertaken by churches like St Wilifrid's increases, as does their responsibility for ensuring the self-funded teams are suitably insured for the work they are expecting to undertake. Called to assist in war zones and areas of unrest these volunteers are certainly not on holiday, and need specialist insurance to cover their emergency medical and travel needs.