I recently traveled to Sierra Leone with the charity Plan, a photographer and a journalist from the Sunday Express who covered the trip. I sponsor 9 year old Sheka Koroma over there and thought I'd pay him and his family a visit and raise Plan's profile in the process with a bit of media coverage. That's Sheka with me in the picture on the left by the way, what a little dude. He'd written to me a couple of times before I'd made the trip and told me he likes football and lorries apparently. Nice one Sheka.

After I traveled around India in 2006 and was blown away by the place, and especially the kids over there, many of whom were living in abject poverty and being forced to grow up way too fast, I liked Plan's ethos of sponsoring children to facilitate positive change starting at ground roots level by supporting and educating the next generation.

Obviously the Sierra Leone war was a horrendous period for the country and something that affected thousands of children who were exposed to atrocities that you and I cannot imagine. Check out Ishmael Beah's "A Long Way Gone" for a compelling, shocking and touching true account of one child soldier's experience: http://www.alongwaygone.com/.

Whilst I covered my own costs for the trip (flights etc.), as I didn't want this to come over as a holiday, I thought this would be a great opportunity to raise some money for the charity and so set up this site. You can read an account of my trip on Plan's website knowing that you contributed to it in some way by clicking here:
http://www.plan-uk.org/

And if you're really on board with all of this you can even sponsor your own child through Plan.

Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor me: Plan UK will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you.

Cheers for taking the time out to read this.

Thanks from me and Sheka.