any given day, wish, from South Sudan, was fetching water for his family. In the forest, some men appeared and took her away when she was 15 years old. This is how she herself remembers it: “While I lived in the forest I felt terrible things. They beat me badly. What they want is for them to follow their rules.” These girls become women who take care of their “warriors”: they cook the food, wash their clothes and even satisfy their sexual desires.
Warlords need servant hands. The minors between 12 and 17 years old are their preferred prey, according to susana oliver, member of World Vision Spain. “Because they start to have more physical strength, they are used for fighting and to carry weapons,” she adds. His innocence and fear is too powerful a cocktail.
Desiré was with them for more than a year, until he saw his opportunity to flee: “It was not an easy trip for me, I did not know where to go, I just kept moving for several days.” The terror that these men harbor in their victims paralyzes them, but at the same time forces them to run, as far as possible.
This Saturday is the international day against the recruitment of child soldiers, a day that also serves to remember the courage of those who, against all odds, never threw in the towel. Angelo is one of those people. She also traveled to hell, where she claims that they hurt her soul. But they failed to destroy him. In fact, he now works with World Vision himself. “We all have to work together, with each child,” he says.
Chema Caballero, in Benin, remember his years of work in Sierra Leone. do you remember Shein, one of his child soldiers. He assures that twenty years later, the devil returns to visit him in his dreams. “He still closes his eyes and sees the moment when they forced him to kill his father,” he confesses about the former soldier. As for him, Desiré already goes to school, but he fights so that no child has to watch his back.
Source: Lasexta
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
