Amputee Soccer - Training Fourteen Sierra Leonean amputee football players departed for the United Kingdom in late August 2003 to play their English counterparts. The Players lost their limbs during Sierra Leone's brutal decade-long civil war. The team began two years ago as a soccer club founded by amputees who only wanted an opportunity to play the game they loved. It is evolving into a tool for self-empowerment in one if the world's poorest counties. All the players occupy their country's lowest financial strada, have little opportunity for employment, and have been stigmatized by society, thus further prohibiting economic and personal advancements. The tour's goal was to bring attention to their plight. The players also wanted victory on the pitch. The tour was orginized by "Children in Conflict" an NGO wanting to increase public awareness of their activities in Africa. The NGO also viewed the tour as an opportunity to use sport as a therapeutic vehicle for victims of trauma. The team failed to defeat the UK's National Amputee team. Time will tell if the exposure they recived, both in the UK and in Sierra Leone, will lead the players, and by extension all amputees in Sierra Leone, toward a more promising future. Team captain, M'byo Conteh, center, scrimmages with fellow teammates during a downpour in Freetown. The team had a one week training camp before departing to the UK. THIS PHOTOGRAPH WON FIRST PRIZE IN THE 2004 WORLD PRESS CONTEST, SPORTS FEATURES, SINGLES.

Members of the Sierra Leone National Amputee Football Team hold hands after praying to Jesus and Allah prior to practice. The team, composed of different tribal and cultural backgrounds, was attempting to create unity between team members in a country torn apart by years of civil unrest.

Amputee Soccer - home Joseph Lagao, a member of the Sierra Leone National Amputee Football Team, is photographed as he leaves his home when he and his team members received word that the airline had removed them from the flight, due to overbooking, which would delay their trip to the UK for at least a week. The team would then miss half of their tour. It took intervention at the highest levels of Sierra Leone's government to get most of their seats back.

Amputee Soccer - Departure Moses Mambu, right, waits in the mini-bus at the airport prior to departure. None of the members of the team had been on an airplane or out of the country. There was both trepidation and excitment as they departed from home.

Gooooooal! Amadu Kamara, of Sierra Leone, center, runs towards Colon after scoring the first goal of the tour against
Southend. The team led 1-0 but lost 2-1. The Sierra Leone team, with members who lost their limbs during their
countries 10 year civil war, were in the UK on a good will tour.

Amputee Soccer - Exploration Patrick Koroma flirts with a girl while visiting an English beach. His teammates survey
the alien geography.

Amputee Soccer - Autograph hounds Victor Musa signs autographs on his way to watch an Everton match. The
players, more accustomed to being ignored due to the social stigmas associated with the cause of thier amputations,
basked in the attention they received.

Amputee Soccer - Solitary defeat Team captain M'bayo Conteh is photographed after his team lost 4-0 to Everton. The English team had 5 members of the National squad and Conteh realized their chances of defeating them was slight.

Amputee Soccer - Roller coaster initiation Sembu Kamara, left, and Patrick Koroma ride a roller coaster for the first time. Although enjoying the coaster greatly, after the "Devil's Drop" their enthusiasim was severely dampened.

Amputee soccer - Contemplative departure Jabatie Mambu, the team's goaltender, leads members of Sierra Leone's Blind Choir to the airport's departure gate for their flight back home. All members of the team wondered if their tour would provide them with what both they and the organizers hoped for: increased opportunities for amputees in Sierra Leone. The choir was touring the UK independently of the football team.

At the last minute the team's coach, top left, was not allowed to depart for the UK due to clerical errors. He provides instructions for the team's 21 year-old assistant coach and a chaperone moments before their departure.

Joseph Lagao, right, and team mate listen during a group meeting where issues of spending money for the players is discussed. The tour, on a very tight budget, compounded the difficulties already facing the players and organizers. Numerous meetings were held, some planned and others impromptu, to defuse problematic situations and encourage a healthier group dynamic.