We Must Strive To Be Like The

Whenever I Speak At The United Nations, Unicef Or Elsewhere To Raise Awareness Of The Continual And Rampant Recruitment Of Children In Wars Around The World, I Come To Realize That I Still Do Not Fully Understand How I Could Have Possibly Survived The Civil War In My Country, Sierra Leone.

My Squad Is My Family, My Gun Is My Provider, And Protector, And My Rule Is To Kill Or Be Killed.

In Early 1993, When I Was 12, I Was Separated From My Family As The Sierra Leone Civil War, Which Began Two Years Earlier, Came Into My Life.

This Is One Of The Consequences Of The Civil War. People Stop Trusting Each Other, And Every Stranger Becomes An Enemy.

I Joined The Army To Avenge The Deaths Of My Family And To Survive, But I've Come To Learn That If I Am Going To Take Revenge, In That Process I Will Kill Another Person Whose Family Will Want Revenge; Then Revenge And Revenge And Revenge Will Never Come To An End.