THREE former homeless people from St Austell have returned from a life-changing trip to Africa.

Verity Stephens, 24, Aaron Hall, 18, and Jodie Hamley, 19, are preparing to launch into a new life, with plans to start new courses and write poetry books about their experiences in Uganda.

They have returned to the UK filled with enthusiasm after helping orphaned children, many of whom have HIV, by decorating school buildings and helping them in class.

They were chosen to travel to Kabubbu, a village close to the equator in Uganda, to help the community which has been ravaged by AIDS, has no medical facilities and where water is scarce. The three people have been helped by the Christian Alliance Housing Association (CAHA) who nominated them for the trip. The trip was arranged by UK charity TABS International, in conjunction with the Quicken Trust in Africa.

Verity said: "It was a life-changing experience. For the first time in my life I kept myself together because I didn't want to let anybody down.

"I was thinking about everybody else in the team. I couldn't rant and rave because there were too many people relying on me, which I have managed to continue since being back in Cornwall.

"The trip has made me grow up, think more and act more responsibly and now I really care how I convey myself."

Verity started writing poetry while she was in Uganda and hopes to carry on in the UK, eventually creating a book of poetry about her trip.

After spending his life travelling around the country Aaron is now planning to stay in St Austell.

Jodie has regained confidence and is hoping to return to education to do a NVQ.

Before the trip she had lost her belief in life after she had a car accident, shattering her dream of joining the Police Child Protection Unit, as she could not pass the fitness test.

She said: "If it wasn't for Pete Strange and Debbie Applegate from CAHA giving up their evenings to take us fundraising we would never have got to Uganda.

"It was a once in a lifetime experience but if it wasn't for their efforts we wouldn't have been able to go."

Pete said: "It is amazing to see the change from how they were when the project first started to when they came back."

Debbie added: "It was an incredible journey to watch them go through, they have done a lot of self-development and thinking and they have touched the lives of others."

They gave their thanks to Hendra Holiday Park and Allbright Cleaning who helped to raise money for the trip.