Hi all,
I'm asking this question here because I didn't even know what terms to put in my google search.

My problem is: I have user files stored in a folder outside apache's documents root e.g. My project is in /var/www/ProjectName/ and the files are in /var/uploads/

I think you got it
I want to be able to link to those files from within my project, doesn't really matter if the solution involves changing Apache's settings.

Oh and I don't want to rush you or anything but this is urgent