WHEN Greg Moss was working on a charity project in Rwanda he had what he calls some “wobbly” moments.

One came when some trees were being chopped up for scaffolding to build new mud huts for some of the village’s widows. Machetes were being swung into logs that were about the thickness of an arm or a leg.

“It made me suddenly think that 10 years ago in Rwanda this would have been a human arm or a human neck. It brought up uncomfortable memories,” said Moss. “These people had probably seen their relatives being murdered, or their relatives murdering other people,” he said. “And yet the fact remained that despite that history the people were obviously very content and happy — more so than in many parts of the developed world.

“It was a profound experience for us all,” he said. “There was absolute poverty and, for me, the sudden understanding of what it’s like being completely dependent on the rains for your very existence. If the rains don’t come, there is no food. That’s it; end of story.”

The Rwandan jungle is not where you expect to find the head of commercial property at a top Birmingham law firm such as Anthony Collins. But the firm allows partners to take a three-month sabbatical after 10 years and Moss was making the most it. He said people found it odd that a busy firm would let a senior partner go off for three months, especially as one of the rules governing the sabbatical is that it must not include a project that benefits the business.

“We don’t have any real rules about what they do,” said Moss. One person did a sponsored cycle ride across Thailand. Another took a university course that he finished off after he returned to the office. Fortunately nobody has yet come back determined to give up legal work.

Moss said that he needed a break. He had started with the firm in l981 and became a partner at an early age. “Rwanda literally took me to another world. It took me right out of working in the thick of the legal business. It’s an aspect of our commitment to achieving a work/life balance.”

The visit to Rwanda was the project that Moss had set himself. His church had supported a number of schemes there and he decided to go and see them with his family, including his wife, who had already been to the country. Visiting the homes that were being built for war widows involved living in a village for several days. “It had a huge personal impact on me — living in a different culture, understanding what it was like to be a minority, helping these people rebuild not just the fabric of the buildings but their lives as well,” he said.

“It was an experience that changed the way I looked at things — things like image and how you would define what real happiness is — aware that round the corner at any time is potential hardship of a sort that we are utterly unfamiliar with.”

There were what Moss calls some “interesting discussions” about the genocide. “What we were told, and I have no way of knowing how true this is, is that there is a tradition that men do not show emotion. If you do, it gives power to your enemy.

“We were told that among those who lived through the genocide there is strong evidence of resentment and hatred, but these feelings are being suppressed. But we didn’t feel threatened or endangered even in places that felt particularly tense.”

The villagers’ livelihoods depend on the rains. If they come early, villagers get very excited. But if they then stop after a couple of weeks, the crops fail, leaving nothing but hunger. “The precariousness of their existence was probably the overriding impression that I came back with,” said Moss.

He had been anxious about returning to work but this was easier than he had expected largely because the sabbatical had been the right thing at the right time. Before he had left he had done a great deal of planning so that the department would function without him.

On his return he came back to a different role. Rather than concentrating on fee earning, he did more on business strategy and planning. Before his sabbatical Moss and his team had developed a management system to cover his absence. It involved the creation of a series of mini teams, each of which handled a single aspect of management. This has worked well and has been expanded.

Law firms often depend on people working long and punishing hours and this is something Anthony Collins wants to avoid. “If people are happy in their jobs, you get much more out of them,” said Rob Hellott, an associate with the firm. “People are volunteering. They are empowered. They take ownership and put their best into it.”

Joanna Lee-Mills, an assistant solicitor, is adamant that if you are happy in your work, you are more effective.

Moss said that on a much deeper level he was able to appreciate how Rwanda’s harsh physical environment influenced the way the country’s people lived and interacted. “Their positive attitudes and courage were hugely inspiring,” he said.

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