WITNESSING the aftermath of Rwandan genocide at first hand has transformed Dorset businessman Chris Brickell, changing his perspective of money dramatically.

He used to think of currency in terms of notes, coins and - being a rugby fan - their purchasing power in relation to alcohol. Now that has changed.

"A round of drinks will put a kid in Rwanda through school for four months," he said.

"Last week I went to Twickenham and spent £70 - you could have put two kids through school for a year for that."

Chris and wife Shireen have just returned after delivering £10,000 of charity aid to Rwandan capital Kigali.

It is the latest instalment of more than £100,000 raised by their charity Msaada (a Swahili word meaning help'), which is based at North Dorset Rugby Club.

"This has been the best thing I have ever done in my life. No question about it," said Chris, CEO of Shaftesbury printer Blackmore.

"You can do so much with not very much. You can pay a teacher's salary for a year for less than I spend on beer in a year."

Msaada's latest mission to Rwanda saw the charity funding phase one of a beekeeping course and paying the salaries of teachers at the Japanese-built Smile Again' school at Rwamagana, 90 minutes east of Kigali.

Orphans there are taught practical skills such as woodworking and tailoring.

At the Comic Relief Peace Village in Kigali, the Brickells arrived with a consignment of colouring pens plus around 20 footballs.

To the uninitiated that might not seem much, but the effect on the children was amazing.

"We just got out of the truck and started kicking footballs about and suddenly they all appeared.

"It was like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. They were thrilled to bits."

Msaada is under the patronage of the BBC's Fergal Keane, who reported on the 1994 atrocities in Rwanda. It was one of Feargal Keane's former colleagues from Limerick, Billy Kelly, who helped to forge the link with North Dorset Rugby Club.

Next month will be the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide that left around one million dead and millions of lives in ruins.

Its legacy is all too evident: "There's a lot of Aids there, a huge amount," said Chris.

"Aids-rape was used as a weapon.

"The Hutu militia just killed all the educated men and boys, then they killed the educated women and raped everybody else."

For more information about the work of Msaada, www.msaada.org