A METHODIST preacher has returned from a humanitarian mission to Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Bill Worley, a preacher on the Weardale circuit, flew to the Caribbean on September 17 with a missionary group.

He said: "The contrast between Haiti and the Dominican Republic is amazing. In Haiti there is no money for paint, so everything is just made out of breeze blocks. The poverty is extreme. Soleil City is a shanty town with 300,000 people, but the government says it does not exist, so things like sewerage systems just don't exist. We were shown the desperate needs of people there."

The main aim of the trip, on behalf of Bible Mission International, was to deliver supplies to three orphanages.

The group saw how youngsters were fighting against poverty