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Early in 2008 the Executive DirectorÌýof the Christian charity Samaritan's Purse came to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Suffolk to be my lunchtime sofa guest.

Simon Barrington left his high profile job at BT to work with the organisation, whose mission is toÌýhelp people throughout the year by providing practical gifts during times of war, disaster, famine, disease and extreme poverty.

Simon said the aim of the shoebox appeal, Operation Christmas Child, is to get schools, churches and individuals to pack-up thousands of gift-wrapped shoeboxes with toys, school supplies, sweets, and other gifts for needy children around the world.

It's happened every Christmas since 1990. In 2007 they sent 1.3 million boxes. In 2008, around 20,000 shoeboxes have been filled across Suffolk alone.

I casually commented it would make a great radio programme to follow one of the shoeboxes and to see it being opened by a child in a less developed part of the world. Simon obviously remembered because just a few weeks ago I had a phone call inviting me to join a trip to Romania to see the shoeboxes being handed out.

Shoebox schedule

I flew out on 12 December 2008 to the Romanian capital Bucharest for a three-day trip. As well as recording several pieces for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Suffolk, I took a video camera with me to capture the delight on the faces of youngsters thousands of miles away as they open the shoeboxes packed in Suffolk.

Pupils loading presents at Rougham

My journey started on 25 November 2008 when I visited the pupils of Rougham Primary School near Bury St Edmunds. They are amongst thousands of people across the county and the country who have been gathering the goodies to put into their shoeboxes.

"It's so important, particularly at this time of year, for the children to have that chance to give," said headteacher Karen Rees.

"It gives them a chance to think about how they can make someone else's life a little brighter. It's lovely to see the variety in the boxes and they do us proud every year."

I spoke to some of the pupils in years 3 and 4 as they waved goodbye to their boxes which left for a warehouse to be sorted.

Florence told me who she imagines will open her present: "It's probably going to be someone who doesn't have very much money and they don't own much.

"They're all going to be very miserable and they've got very old toys. I've always had toys all my life and just can't imagine what it's like."

Florence's fellow pupil Daisie gave her thoughts on a likely recipient: "Someone who's never had a present before and who's going to be really happy just to open something."

The presents which are put in the boxes are all small, but brand new. Pupils at Rougham provided things including woolly hats and gloves, toothpaste and brushes, sweets, dolls, pens, pencils and stationary.

Stage two

The ShoeboxesÌýwere collected at the beginning of December and taken to a warehouse for processing.

I went to see the volunteers at work at Raydon near Hadleigh where the boxes from all the Ipswich and Colchester postcodes were being sorted, including the ones from Rougham Primary School.

The area co-ordinator of Operation Christmas Child is Phil Pearson, who's been preparing for this stage of the campaign all year – sorting where the boxes are to go, booking shipping details, and organising the volunteers to turn up to the barn.

The whole operation is a very well-oiled machine. FirstÌýthe boxes are opened and checked at one of the tables where four or five women are working together and if necessaryÌýnotepads or pens can be added.

One of the volunteers, Cath, told me it was a really friendly atmosphere and that she'd been helping out for around three years. Her fellow helper Sue said it was great because every box she packed is personal - she buys things all through the year to send out.

Michael Ward's job is to transfer the cartons of approximately 14 boxes each to the nearby storage warehouse.ÌýWhile I was there he stacked the 89th pallet - there are around 15 cartons to a pallet. 30,000 shoeboxes passed through the warehouse in 2008 - collected from across Suffolk and Essex.

I went back to the farm on the following Saturday to see the lorries arrive from Serbia and Romania. Around 12,000 shoeboxes were stacked onto each lorry.Ìý

It must have been a relief for Phil as we waved those lorries offÌý- it meant his job was done and he could relax now knowing that children in several countries across the world will get a special present from Suffolk this Christmas.

But for me it was this is really only the beginning.Ìý

The trek to Transylvania

The group of 15 travelling to Romania met at Heathrow on the Friday. The others were all volunteers from across Britain - this wasÌý their chance to see the delight as the boxes were handed over.

We had a drive around the capital Bucharest before heading off to our destination – the village of Campalung in the Arges District which is around 100 km northwest.Ìý Bucharest lookedÌýlike any other big city in the world with sparkly Christmas lights, MacDonalds and numerous car dealerships.

We got our first glimpse of the countryside the following day. Our hosts were the people working with Operation Christmas Child handing out the shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse.Ìý Vio and Estera Grigore have given up their careers to act as missionaries in their own country and spend most of their time working in the gypsy villages.

Cross country

As we set off in our mini buses I was amazed to see lots of people using horse and trap rather than a car, and each house had an old fashioned haystack. This was just a hint of the poverty we were about to find over the next couple of days.Ìý

We visited schools and churches , and in one case, a 2 roomed house to hand out the shoeboxes. Everywhere we went we greeted with carols, poems and nativity scenes.Ìý

Opening gifts in Romania

Estera told us that in some of the more remote gypsy villages the children will have never seen anyone fromÌýwestern Europe. Gypsies tend to live in separate areas from other Romanians, although this unofficial segregation isn't 100%.

Until I actually saw some of the houses the children came from I found it hard to believe real poverty existed. Estera told me how the gypsies live on the outskirts of the villages in houses that are so basic – two rooms with the toilet being a hole in the ground in the garden.

The girls often marry aged 12 or 13 and many of the children can't afford pencils and paper so do not ever go to school.Ìý

Once I realised just how little some of these children have it made the opening of the shoeboxes even more poignant.Ìý They took such care with the contents of the boxes – carefully examining each item and then often repacking it so carefully to take home.

Many people told me that these boxes are often treasured for years and will be the only present they get. One girl was so excited when she found pens and a notepad in her box that she came running to us in great excitement and said 'Now I can go to school!' That shoebox could have changed her life.

Heading for Dracula's domain

Our next stage of the journey was via aeroplane to the city of Cluj Napoca in Transylvannia – Ìýtheir football team recently lost to Chelsea!ÌýYet again we drove through a city that could be anywhere in the world – the Christmas lights dripped off every building and there was even a skating rink in the centre.Ìý Here our hosts were with the organisation that co-ordinates the shoebox distribution for the whole of Romania.

Ecce Homo ("Behold the man") is an evangelical Christian charity thatÌý helps poverty stricken families, orphans and street children by - to quote their website - 'providing for their physical, mental and spiritual needs through the provision of food, clothing and social assistance'.Ìý

Their director is Liveu Balas explained that the country still does not have an economy that can support the unemployed. There are many families that have absolutely no income.Ìý

One of the other big problems facing the country is the number of parents travelling out of the country to find work. In some cases both of them go leaving the children behind and tied in with this is the awful fact that the suicide rate in children aged 8–12 has risen.

While we were in Cluj we visited some very sick children in the paediatric hospital, including some with Leukaemia and it was lovely to see the smiles on all the faces when the gifts were handed out.Ìý I think we were appreciated almost more by the mums who were so delighted to see their children smiling.Ìý

Samaritan's Purse at work

One of my more moving moments was when we met a mum with a daughter who'd just been diagnosed with diabetes. It took me straight back to when my son Tom was diagnosed when he was aged five.Ìý

We also visited some local schools in the poorer districts. The classrooms were pretty barely furnished but they did have the basics.Ìý EveryÌýclass we visited either sang to us or spoke to us in English,Ìý and every child was obviously delighted by their gifts – whether they were aged 4 or 14.

Before my trip to Romania I was really concerned that those receiving the boxes would see us as interfering, patronising western people but having seen the real poverty of many people in Romania, and the delight on the faces of all the children as they lifted the lids on their boxes – I now know that those boxes are so much appreciated.Ìý

Samaritan's Purse say that every child – no matter where they are – deserve some joyÌýandÌý these boxes certainly do that.Ìý They are such a simple idea – children in one country sending a present to another,Ìý but they really do mean so much more.Ìý

I shall be packing up at least one shoebox next year!