`My father, uncle and one of my brothers were killed by rebels'.

MOTHER-of-three Massah Ngegbeh, who looks after a total of 14 children in her household, is the administrator of the women's group.

A native of east Sierra Leone, she came to Senehun in 1991.

"In 1994, we were forced to leave this place," she said. "I escaped with my mother, my brothers and my sister.

"I lost my father, I lost my uncle and I lost one of my brothers. They were killed by rebels.

"My father was so old, he was left behind. We escaped for four years and then came back. Now I am happy to be here."

Each woman pays 500 Leones ( around 10p ( to join the group and every week they come together, taking it in turns to receive a pot of money.

She said: "Maybe I will use mine to buy shoes for the children or pay school fees. Without MAPCO, other villages aren't organized.

"My job here is to record what goes on in the garden. At harvesting time, I keep records of what we sell at market and their price. We need to know if we are making any profits from the garden.

"Now we are able to co-operate with each other and try to work for ourselves."