Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Marina Santee.
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And I’m Robin Basselin. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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John lives in the country of Liberia, west Africa. He became a child soldier when he was only six years old. Rebels came to his community. They beat his father and they put his father in jail. Then the rebels asked John to join them and fight. John agreed. He was afraid that his father would be killed if he refused.
Voice 2
The United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, is an organization that offers health services and education to children around the world. UNICEF estimates that there are 300,000 child soldiers involved in conflicts around the world. Some children are as young as six years old. Children fight, carry messages, and cook. Some children are used as sex slaves. Today’s Spotlight is on these child soldiers. Through education, organizations like UNICEF are offering former child soldiers hope for a better life.
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So what happened to John? The rebels took John and 175 other children. The children left their homes. Then the children trained for war. The training lasted for three months. The rebels took the children to the front lines of the war. Some of the children, like John, were so small that they pulled their heavy guns through the dirt. John told UNICEF,
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“…The rebels gave us lots of drugs to make us feel strong and brave and to follow their orders no matter what.”
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Today John is eighteen years old. He has been in school for seven years. He hopes to become a doctor. Rebels have asked him to fight again. But he has refused. He said,
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“My education is too important to me.”
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There are many organizations working around the world to try and end the use of children in war. There are many ways that these organizations try do this. First, they work directly with governments to negotiate to remove children from their armies. Then the children can begin educational programs. UNICEF is one of these organizations that tries to help. UNICEF works to protect children as they return to life away from the military. UNICEF returns children to their communities and helps them deal with their bad memories. But most of all, UNICEF provides children with three or more years of school.
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Education is a very necessary part of the life of former child soldiers. Education offers the hope of future work. Without education, the children are not able to choose another way of life. Many children have lost their whole family to the war. They do not have any way of learning the skills that they need for work. This means that they often do not have any place to go. Many times they become soldiers again.
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Mr. Jean Claude Legrand works for UNICEF as an adviser on the protection of children in war. He told the United Nations magazine Africa Recovery,
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“The best way to support a child is to provide him with education and an opportunity for an income.”
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The United Nations is also working to send former child soldiers to school. Mr. Olara Otunnu works for the United Nations. He represents children who are involved in military conflicts. Mr. Otunnu told Africa Recovery that requiring children to fight in a war is bad for the children and bad for the community. This is because they miss many years of school. The children grow up but they do not understand how to live in peace.
Voice 2
Children become soldiers for many reasons. Rebels force some children to join against their will. Other children join to escape poverty or to fight for family members who have been hurt in the war. For some children, joining the war is a way to survive. The army will give them one meal a day.
Voice 1
This was the situation for Djibril Karim. He joined the army in Sierra Leone when he was thirteen years old. Every person in his family was killed by the rebel forces. Djibril had no place to go. He looked for a safe home for many months. He finally settled in a small town that was controlled by the army. But to stay there as a refugee, Djibril and the other children were required to work in the camps for the soldiers. There was no school.
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As rebels killed more and more adult soldiers, the army needed to use the children. The army told the children that that they could fight or they could leave. The children knew that if they left the rebels would kill them.
Djibril and his friends trained for one week and then went into battle. The army officers told them to kill or be killed.
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At first, Djibril was too frightened to fight. He did not want to kill anyone. Many of the rebels were children too. The soldiers standing next to Djibril were hit with bullets. He saw their blood on his clothes. He knew he had to shoot his gun. Later, Djibril was commanded to torture and even kill some of the rebels. Djibril stopped caring about his life.
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Even a small amount of education can help a child like Djibril care about his life again. In Sudan, some former child soldiers have been given enough training to become school teachers. These teachers are able to help the next generation of child soldiers. They even teach them how to feel like children again! With education, these children do not feel like they need to return to the army.
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Jean-Claude LeGrand reports that in Sierra Leone the civil war started briefly again in 2000. Rebels tried to use former child soldiers in their war. The rebels were surprised when no one wanted to join them. These former soldiers were choosing a new life. And this new life is one that UNICEF and the UN hope to support for all child soldiers.
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The writer of this program was Kathryn Hoffman. The producer was Josh Leo The voices were from the United States. All quotes have been adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. Computer users can hear our programs, read our scripts, and see our word list on our website at This program is called Education for Child Soldiers.
If you have a comment or question for Spotlight you can email us. Our email address is radio @ english . net. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye! |