Following the end of the destruction and violence in Sierra Leona, Sr Stevens has returned and writes to us.

Greetings from Sierra Leone.

It's eight months since I arrived back here and high time I let friends and supports know a bit about what is happening.

In September last year, Patricia Pyne, a Sierra Leonean sister, and myself returned to our convent in Brookfields (a suburb of the capital, Freetown). Brookfields was the least damaged of our places. Apart from the RPG damage to some open brickwork and a few bullet holes, the place remained unscathed. The convent is next to the National Stadium. We didn't plan it that way - the convent was there long before the stadium. It makes for pretty noisy weekends.

As to what is happening here politically wise; it is anybody's guess. Contradictory reports are rife - everyone trying to present themselves in the best light. With government, RUF, CDF, SLA, exSLA, ECOMOG, UNAMSIL and the rest of the alphabet in the soup in the game, it all gets too confusing. Add a plethora of NGO's trying to stake out their territories and the game becomes a nightmare.

Freetown is relatively quiet, with just occasional skirmishes which are quickly brought under control. Curfew doesn't start now until 11pm and many of the road blocks have been dismantled. There is still, however, a lot of tension under the surface.

But tension or no tension, people have to get on with their lives. Businesses are functioning and schools are sort of functioning. I say "sort of" because it is hard to see how much learning can happen with over 60 children in classrooms designed for 35. Add to that the two previous years of disrupted schooling and the massive trauma experienced by students and teachers, and you get a bit of a mess. The teachers have to be commended for the efforts they are making. The overcrowding is because schools in central and west Freetown are trying to accommodate those students from the east whose schools were destroyed as well as those displaced from the provinces. While there are many plans for reconstruction there is reluctance to commit to big projects until there can be some degree of certainty that it will not all be destroyed again.

I had the opportunity to visit Makeni a few weeks ago. It is still not under Government control but schools, such as they are, have been permitted to reopen. The children and teachers carry mats or seats to school each day and home each evening. Class teachers have to carry home their chalk and the water buckets from their class rooms because no room has any doors or windows, and anything left would be stolen. UNICEF is sponsoring a feeding program for school children on the condition that each school has a kitchen. It was good to see the parents come together to construct the kitchen (mud brick and palm thatch) in the primary school.

It was great to catch up with the clinic staff again, but sad to see the state of the clinic. Everything was taken, down to the sink and the toilet! The store has nothing in it. The only advantage of that is that the rats we used to battle with constantly are not there either. Eight of the staff are back and the people are delighted that the clinic was able to reopen (yet again) on March 1st. A small amount of equipment has been obtained and a supply of basic drugs is topped up each week. Everything is packed up and carried back to the mission store each night. We are grateful for Caritas Makeni for agreeing to take over the administration for one year and to CORDAID (Netherlands) for providing salaries and drugs for a six month period to allow the clinic to get on its feet again.

Our own house is Makeni is still occupied by the rebels. All the preschool play equipment is in our yard for the rebels' kids to play on. And mango trees which had never produced much when we were there are now absolutely laden with fruit. Is there no justice in this world?!! Our chapel has part of two walls missing after a truck backed into the corner of it - a case of hit the accelerator instead of the brake, I think. I was welcomed very politely by the RUF 'colonel' who is in charge of the group in the convent. I didn't recognise the chair he gave me to sit on. The convent had been totally looted in the first wave. When the colonel decided to take the place as his headquarters he had to loot elsewhere to furnish it. It was a weird experience - I felt like I was walking on eggshells the whole time.

The experience left me somewhat disturbed, not the least because it made me see a little of the 'other side'. This young man has been with the RUF for nine years - he was recruited from secondary school. To be in the position he now holds he'd have done his fair share of killing, looting and destroying, but I'm told that he is definitely one of the more reasonable of the commanders in Makeni. He talks of the immense waste of nine years of his life, with nothing being achieved. What is his future? He says he is waiting for the disarmament, but many have decided not to go that way. Is it going to go underground again to explode once more at a later date?

Back in Freetown, the program for rehabilitation of war wounded, which was relocated from Makeni, is going well. I find working with this group most satisfying. It is great to see the participants finding ways of coping with their disabilities and to witness a return of confidence and self-esteem.

Unlike the Makeni program this one is not residential. Some of the participants are living in the camp and some have found places to stay in the town. None have the resources to afford anything decent. The influx of UN, UNAMSIL and displaced people from the provinces and from the parts of Freetown which had been destroyed has driven rent prices through the roof. Many people have to make do with corrugated iron shakes (pan bodis) if they can find one. We are able to provide a meal daily and weekly transport allowance to our participants.

The basic Literacy component of the program has proven very popular. In the evaluation conducted after three months most participants listed the ability to write their names as a major achievement. Something we can take so much for granted was so important for them. A group of boys in their late teens who never had the chance of schooling have taken to learning like ducks to water. They are soaking up everything.

Small enterprise development training is included in the program and we are able to offer small start up grants for those who complete the training and are able to develop a feasible small business plan - four people so far.

A lot of time is given to talking with and listening to the participants. There is a great deal they have to come to terms with, especially those who have lost one or both hands. We discover what is best for each one and explore ways of allowing ideas to become reality. It is slow and out numbers are necessarily kept low - about twenty at the moment.

Two of the lads who were secondary school pupils prior to being attacked are moving back into the formal school system. Patrick has no hands but has learned to write using his reconstructed forearm stump (Kruckenberg procedure - an operation to convert a forearm stump into a functional pincer has been performed by a surgical team from ICRC on a number of bilateral upper limb amputees. That program has now been suspended. Borboh has no fingers.

One young man, previously a farmer, suffered multiple skull fractures and had ½ of his right amputated. Amadu's dream was to learn soap making because, as he explained, no one in his village makes soap and everyone needs soap, so he could survive doing that. A local soap making family has taken him on and trained him. He brought his first "solo batch" to show us recently.

Santos wanted to do carving and having only one hand wasn't going to stop him. A craft cooperative near our center, impressed by his determination, agreed to take him on for training if we would purchase his tools. He was initially a little disappointed to learn that for the bone carving he would be using cow bone not 'elephant teeth'! From his first sales he brought himself a pair of shoes.

All of our amputees have been to one or other of the agencies that are distributing prostheses (false hands) and have been given their prostheses. All except one have not bothered to use them. The one has two hands amputated and did not have the Kruckenberg procedure. The others felt that the techniques they'd devised for managing in the two years they'd been waiting for the limbs were more efficient (and more comfortable) than wearing the artificial limb. The one who really does need the prothesis is frustrated because adequate training in its use did not accompany the handing out of the limb. The whole exercise has been a scandalous waste of resources. One boy told me the only use he could see for his artificial hand was to use it as a weapon on those who laugh at his appearance (he has no hands and, yes, there are those who ridicule the amputees). While I couldn't endorse the use, I understand the sentiment.

The support of CAFOD (united Kingdom), SAPA (Sierra Leone) and Melbourne Overseas Mission (Australia) has enabled the program to function and our gratitude goes to each of those groups and their supporters.

The convent compound at Brookfields is a hive of activity during the week, with a feeding program for destitute elderly and disabled (mostly blind) people, and a non-formal school program for about 60 displaced children.

Every day we are faced with requests for assistance - e.g. help with accommodation, transport costs for those displaced wishing to return to their homes, help with schooling, food... The donations received from various groups and individuals allow us to answer some of the requests. And a little bit by Western standards goes a long way here. The other common request is for time - for someone to sit with a person and just listen to his or her story. There is never enough of that.

We are expecting a third sister to join us some time in May. She is a Sierra Leonean nurse who has been doing her midwifery training in the Gambia. The parish clinic in Brookfields is ready to welcome her and Patricia and I are looking forward to having another companion.

Enough chatter. Thanks to all of you for your interest and support.

Ann