THROUGH some eyes, it’s a city of designer shoe shops, art houses and a booming café culture.

But, beyond the inner streets of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, thousands of people are still struggling with the aftermath of the conflict which ravaged the country ten years ago.

Communities scour the rubbish dumps on which they live for food and things they can recycle while those with homes decorate their living rooms with cheap plastic toys other people wouldn’t think twice about throwing away.

“One of the things I will always remember is that, in one house, the family had a plastic toy as a decoration. It was a simple toy from a McDonald’s children’s meal and it was their only ornament,”

said Angie.

More than 1,100 miles away from her Oasis Christian bookstore in Romsey, the volunteer is no stranger to the harsh conditions communities in Europe and Africa face. As a presenter for the charity, Samaritan’s Purse, Angie, 50, travels around the region talking to schools, social committees and church groups about how they carry out their annual Operation Christmas Child project.

Since 1999, the organisation has delivered more than a million boxes filled with donated toys, gifts, stationery and hygiene items to children in 13 countries Angie, 50, who lives in Romsey with her husband, Mike, and daughter, Amy, joined a group of volunteers as they followed truckloads of boxes to Serbia to hand them out to children and families who struggle to survive in terrible surroundings.

“I had been on a trip before, but it is still amazing to see just how much a difference the boxes actually make,” she said.

“It is heartbreaking to see just how poor the conditions are and how people are living on a rubbish dump when, just a few miles away, you see a shop selling designer shoes at 160 euros.

As a volunteer on the trip, Angie handed out shoeboxes to children, all struggling to survive in difficult conditions in orphanages, shelters, hospitals and Romany gypsy camps.

“It was really hard to see people living in such squalor. The conditions were awful and the families who register to get the boxes have come to rely on what they contain.

Children get very excited at having their own comb or toothbrush because it means they no longer have to share with their brother or sister,” she said.

Angie said that, in one hospital, there were 48 mentally-handicapped babies being looked after in just one ward.

“People over there have no benefit system as we do, so those who are poor really suffer.”

Seeing how the shoeboxes, which had been collected by schools, churches, social groups and individuals throughout Hampshire over the past 12 months, can make a difference is a rewarding experience for dozens of volunteers who travel to the countries to help hand them out.

At one drop, near Serbia’s second- largest city, Novi Sad, Angie met a four-year-old girl who was so happy with her gift that she grabbed hold of her and would not let go.

“She was hugging me and crying and kept saying this word over and over again. It was then that a translator told me she was saying that she thought I was her angel.

“Angela in Serbian is almost the same as the word, angel, so it was very touching to bring something that made her so happy.”

In the shoeboxes, children usually get items such as small toys, sweets, pens, paper, colouring pencils, hats, scarves, gloves as well as soap and toothpaste.

“One thing that always amazes us is that when they open the box and see a packet of sweets, they immediately open it and offer it round. They share everything and you have to take one so as not to upset them,” she said.

After a week visiting 14 sites throughout Serbia including refugee camps in Krnjaca and Panchevo Bridge at Deponija, Angie said it took a while to adjust back to life at home.

“It is a very rewarding experience, but it is very emotional, too.

One thing everyone remembers though is how much children and families in really poor countries can be helped by a simple thing like a box full of little presents.”