 Sierra Leone was traumatised by one of Africa's most brutal civil wars |
Football is helping to heal the wounds of Sierra Leone's bitter civil war for a group of the country's amputees. During the 1990s Sierra Leone was ravaged by a brutal civil war that saw over 4000 people suffer the amputation of one or more of their limbs.
Only 1000 survived, but in the aftermath of the war a group of young men and boys came together to form the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club (SLASC).
It is now regarded as the unofficial Amputee Football Team of Sierra Leone.
The team has over 30 team members most of whom are very young, with none of them over the age of 30.
Amputees - the outfield players are without legs, while the goalkeepers are arm amputees - play a modified version of football.
The size of the pitch is smaller than a full-size one, with each half lasting 25 minutes.
There are no limit to the number of substitutes each side can use.
 |  They have got up and got going and have set an image for other able-bodied people |
Most importantly the players are not allowed to kick the ball with their crutches - if they do, then a free-kick is awarded to the other team.
The crutches provide an extraordinary soundtrack to each game - imagine the noise of giant knitting needles click, click, clicking.
Key to the formation of the team was an American amputee Dee Malchow, a nurse specialising in amputation recovery.
She visited a camp in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown where some of the amputees, many of whom had previously played football before the civil war started, had congregated and suggested it was possible for them to still play.
When she went back to the United States she sent the amputees the rules of the game, a video, and a box of single sport shoes.
Malchow told BBC Sport: "When I arrived there was a real sense of hopelessness. Their lives were so hard to start with and they thought how could they make it. That was sad to see."
SLASC is organised by Mambud Samai, who also works a fund-raiser for the team.
"The game is very exciting to watch, when you see them catching that moment of balance as they make a pass with one leg," he said.
"It's great to see that when they play football they forget about their problems.
 Dee Malchow introduced the idea of playing football to the SLASC |
Malchow added: "The players are so strong.
"Their shoulders are like rocks and their lungs, hearts and upper body muscles are so well developed.
"These guys are also very coordinated. It's like watching music being played out physically, the way they can orchestrate a game."
Malchow believes that football has not only helped the amputees adjust to life in post-civil war Sierra Leone but the team has also provided a sense of hope for the whole country.
"Amputees have become a tribe unto themselves.
"They have got up and got going and have set an image for other able-bodied people.
"Through what they do they're saying 'I think life is going to work out'. It is so motivational to see them play and do what do they do."
And one of the amputees, the 24-year-old Obai Sesay, who plays as a defender, is in no doubt of how playing football has helped him to readjust to life after the civil war.
"Football has helped me overcome what has happened to me."
SLASC player profiles
Maxwell Fornah, 20, striker.
Shot in the back of the leg, he had been unable to get medical help.
Finally the Red Cross came to his aid, but by that time the wound had become so infected and Fornah had to undergo amputation of the leg
He now lives in the amputee camp in Freetown, where he occasionally works as a barber.
Amadu Kamara, 17, striker During the civil war Kamara not only had his leg amputated, but he also lost his parents.
He asks the question: "I am innocent of everything about the war, but became a victim. Why?"
Kamara is given a small allowance by Briton Bob Jones, who lives in Manchester, and got to know Kamara when SLASC came on a tour to England in 2003.
Foday Dumbuya, 19, striker. Dumbuya lost his leg in 1998 during the war.
His father is dead, while his blind mother lives in the north of the country.
Before joing SLASC, Dumobya was begging, but is now provided with a weekly allowance by the charity Action for Children in Conflict.
Obai Sesay, 24, defender Sesay had his leg amputated after he tried to stop his mother and sisters being raped.
Without any schooling Sesay is illiterate and supports himself in the camp through petty trading.
MMIX
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