On a dirt field behind the Catholic Hospital in Liberia, a spirited football match is underway. Teams of young people, many of whom were on opposite sides during the seven-year-long war, now compete peacefully, if energetically, on a football pitch.

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The Wild Lion Football Club.

Edwin, 15, a wiry athlete whose sinewy legs barely fill his baggy shorts, lost his father and younger brother during the war. "We had no food to eat," he says. "My father and little brother died of sickness. I felt very sad."

Edwin now plays for the Wild Lion Football Club. He has a football scholarship to attend a local high school, and sports have been a major emotional outlet for him. "Football," he says, "makes me feel happy."

Each Saturday morning, scores of youth gather to participate in the sports, drama and music programmes that are among the Support to War Affected Youth (SWAY) projects UNICEF funds. Some 6,000 young people have benefited from these programmes, which are aimed at providing war-affected youth with life skills, as well as outlets to help heal the countless emotional wounds of conflict.

With each match, a bit more healing takes place. "There are kids from all tribes on the team," says 16-year-old Claude. "It helps - there are no problems." One indication that the programmes have made a difference is that none of the young people in them have taken up arms in recent border conflicts, despite recruiting in their villages.

Most importantly, the camaraderie on the sports field has spilled over into how the young men treat each other in their daily lives. "It doesn't depend on tribe," Claude now says of his teammates. "We come together as one."