Introduction:
Being a kid is great! Hanging out with friends, staying up late, and just having a good time. Our biggest worry is homework or what were going to wear tomorrow. But for the children in Africa it’s a totally different story. They are faced with life or death situations on almost a daily basis. Many of them have lost their parents to violence, aids, malaria, starvation, and many other horrible things. These children are always at risk of being abducted into rebel armies and when you’re abducted into rebel armies you are forced into becoming a child soldier. There are an estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world, over 1/3 being in Africa. Child soldiers have the innocence of being a child ripped away from them and aren’t even given a chance at a normal happy life. They are forced to commit atrocities beyond our understanding before they are able to grasp the concept of morality. But why are these armies targeting children? Children are fearless, easily manipulated, and at a never ending supply, but that does not in any way make things right. These children are being starved, beaten and killed right at this very moment. They’re at the mercy of the world and we need to take the reigns and do something about it.
Uganda has been fighting a pointless war for about twenty-one years and children are the ones put in the middle of it all. The Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been fighting the Ugandan government for 18 years. Joseph Kony, who wants Uganda to be a Christian country based on the Biblical Ten Commandments, leads the LRA. The interesting thing about that is that Kony has broken every single commandment a numerous amount of times. The LRA is notorious for raiding villages at night and abducting innocent children to be soldiers in his army, some as young as 6 years old. Once captured the children are initiated by being beaten and often being forced to kill their parents or siblings so they have nothing to return to. The boys are brainwashed and trained to be ruthless killers and the girls are made sex slaves or wives to the LRA commanders who have sometimes as many as 30 wives. The children are also injected with drugs sometimes before they are sent to fight so they are emotionless and have no clue what they are doing. Not only are they forced to kill, but to do it in a brutal way. They are maimed, beaten to death, and tortured. The children are absolutely terrified to try and escape because of the gruesome punishments that would await them such as the cutting off of limbs, nose, ears, lips, or to just be shot on the spot. The LRA has abducted over 30,000 children and soon to be more if we don’t do something about it. No child deserves to have the innocence of childhood taken away from it or to endure this kind of torment.
The war in Africa has displaced over 8,000,000 people. Displacement camps have awful living conditions. People are squeezed into these camps and live in extremely unsanitary conditions. The people in these camps are starving and up to 1,000 people in these camps are dying every week, mainly due to disease and malnutrition, which are a direct result of their confinement. These people endure these harsh living conditions because it is the only place they are somewhat safe from the war and violence. Some of the countries that are suffering from war and have internal displacement camps are Sudan, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Angola, Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, Chad, Liberia, Congo, Somalia, and Ethiopia, the list is almost never ending. Most people in the displacement camps in Sub-Saharan Africa are under the age of fifteen. If displacement camps are a safe place for people to reside in, what is that saying?
Yoweria Museveni is the President of Uganda. Museveni and the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently made a peace treaty agreement and were preparing to meet with Joseph Kony, the merciless leader of the LRA to sign the treaty. Steven Browning, the American Ambassador to Uganda told Joseph Kony that if he stopped the rebel activities and signed the agreement he would be taken off the ICC terrorists list. They were going to meet on April 11, 2008 to sign the treaty and end the LRA. Sadly Joseph Kony failed to show up and government officials went home. This was another failed attempt of the many for peace. Uganda is striving for peace but this is a nearly impossible mission without the cooperation of Kony. The Ugandan government is not going to give up but is most likely becoming discouraged because of this never ending war. They have been trying to capture Joseph Kony for over eighteen years with no prevail, but the government and ICC will continue trying to cut off the LRA.
Africa is the most war torn country on the globe and children are suffering the most. Children are the future and by putting them through this kind of torment and anguish is only setting us up for self destruction. Children need a clean, nurturing, and stable environment to succeed in life none of which the children in Africa have. They know nothing but war and violence. Its not too late to turn around the damage and give all these children a fresh start. My dream is to go to Africa one day and make a difference in at least one childs life. I truly care about the futures of all the children in the war torn countries of Africa.
1)Best Reference Sources:
Organizations: Africa Foundation
P.O. box 4100 Kampala, Uganda East Africa
Telephone- (+256) 772-95-3452
http://www.africa-foundation.org/index.htm
This organization is specifically for the children who are victims of all the war and torment in Africa. Many of the kids are orphaned and living on the streets. This foundation takes these suffering children off the cold streets and give them shelter, food, water, education, and the love they deserve. They also provide mentors that teach them inter-social personal skills and how to farm so that these children will succeed and make it in life the best they can. I really like this foundation because it covers so many bases and helps the kids recover from they trauma they have went through.
IRC Atlanta Resettlement Office
Kensington Office Park, 4151 Memorial DriveSuite 201C
Atlanta, Georgia 30032
http://www.theirc.org/where/the_lost_boys_of_sudan.html
In 1987, a civil war broke out driving around 20,000 young boys, some as young as six or seven out of their homes to make a 1,000 mile journey to refugee camps in Ethiopia to escape death or abduction into the northern army. Nearly half of the boys died before making it to the camps from exhaustion, dehydration, starvation, and many other things. In 2001 about 4,000 of these boys came to the United states for a fresh start. The Lost Boys program helps these boys find places to live, pay for their education, and learn social skills and the basics of living. Even though these boys are now grown adults they will always be affected by what they went through as children and this organization helps them recover and restart their lives.
Invisible Children Inc.
2705 VIA Orange Way, STE. B Spring Valley California, 91978
General Phone: 619-562-2799
General Fax: 619-660-0576
Movement Fax: 619-660-0689
This organization was was founded by Laren Poole, Bobby Bailey, and Jason Russell, three guys who decided to buy a camera, hop on a plane and fly to Africa. When they came back they created the documentary "Invisible Children". Invisible Children is a foundation that helps build schools in Uganda, provide scholarships for the children, finds them teachers, and many other things. One of their biggest projects is the bracelet campaign. Every bracelet is handmade in Africa from reeds and recycled wire then packaged and shipped to the U.S. The bracelets are sold with a short film telling the story of a child affected by war. Invisible Children is an extraordinary foundation that has change the lives of many children who thought there was no hope left for them and continues to.
buy a bracelet here
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/theMission/Bracelet_Campaign
Statistical Information:
"Children at War: The Lost Generation" Peter W. Singer March 16, 2005. The Globalist.
The Power of Global Ideas. April 8, 2008.
http://www.theglobalist.com/DBWeb/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4455
Of all the children in Africa:
1/3 suffer from hunger
250 million live on the streets
211 million work to feed themselves and their families
115 million have never been to school
2.7 million orphaned in Nigeria
2.5 million orphaned in Ethiopia
1.8 million orphaned in South Africa
You can clearly tell, by looking at those numbers, war has had the most extensive effect on the children.
Africa Recovery, Vol.15 #3, October 2001. Olara Otunnu.
This is a very interesting article because it not only talks about the trials of child soldiers but the steps society is taking to make a difference and how to rehabilitate the child soldiers. Olara Otunnu is a Ugandan statesman, human rights activist, and UN special representative for children in armed conflict. He studied at Makerere, Oxford, and Harvard and briefly served as the Ugandan minister for foreign affairs before returning to academic work.
2) Best Internet Sources
State of the Worlds Children, 1996, UNICEF April 10, 2008
I'm doing my project on the many ways the war in Africa effects the children, This website was really helpful because it talks abou the many different things that the children go through. It talks about the physical and mental abuse, starvation, aids, and child soldiers. It really helped me to truly understand how horrible things really are.
"Africa's Children Struggling to Survive"
February 13, 2008, Nutshell Creations, April 10,2008
http://kabiza.com/Africa
This website was really helpful because it gave real life stories of certain kids in Africa. It really helped me to get a different perspective because you were hearing one child's story and what they went through. It also gave some good statistics like the fact that 20% of african children will not make it to the age of 6 and if they do they're lucky. This website was very helpful and really got the point across.
3) Best Periodical Sources:
1)Edward C. Green Ph.d and Alcinda Honwana Ph.d
"Indigenous Healing of War-Affected Children in Africa"
Policy E-Journal,No. 10 July 1999 April 15,2008 http://www.africaaction.org/docs99/viol9907.htm
Alcinda Honwana is professor and chair in International Development. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of London. Honwana is an Anthropologist from Mozambique. She worked in her country before teaching in Capetown for seven years. She currently lives in New York and works for the office of the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. Edward C. Green is a medical anthropologist and Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, part of Harvard University's School of Public Health.
2)Gettleman, Jeffrey." The Perfect Weapon for the Meanest War"
New York Times 29 Apr. 2007
This is an article on child soldiers in Africa. It talks about the history of child soldiers and why they are the main targets for war. This article also talks about the main countries in Africa that use child soldiers. It talked about the leaders of the rebel armies, such as Joseph Kony, the leader of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). This article was very useful because it talked about what the child soldiers are used for. Many of the children are drugged, forced to mutilate and kill each other and the young girls are made the wives of the rebel leaders and are forced to be sex slaves. This was a very helpful article.
3)Africa Recovery, Vol.15 #3, October 2001. Olara Otunnu.
This is a very interesting article because it not only talks about the trials of child soldiers but the steps society is taking to make a difference and how to rehabilitate the child soldiers. Olara Otunnu is a Ugandan statesman, human rights activist, and UN special representative for children in armed conflict. He studied at Makerere, Oxford, and Harvard and briefly served as the Ugandan minister for foreign affairs before returning to academic work.
4)Best Book Sources:
Children At War: The Lost Generation, Peter W. Singer
Peter W. Singer is the author of Children At War and Corporate Warriors: The Rise of Privatized Military Industry. Corporate Warriors, won the Gladys M. Kammerer award for the best political science publication of the U.S. national policy. Singer received his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 2001 and his B.A. from Princeton University in 1997. He Previously served as the Action Officer in the Balkans Task Force in the Office if the U.S. Secretary of Defense and the International Peace Academy. Children At War, is about the issue of child soldiers. It talks about the desperate situation the children, especially in Africa are faced with every day. This book is about the history behind the war and brutality of child soldiers.
Child Soldiers in Africa: Alcinda Honwana
Child Soldiers in Africa is about not only about what the former child soldiers have encountered but also about how to try and reverse the damage done. Honwana talks about her firsthand experience with the children of Angola and Mozambique and what she learned from personally being there with them. She also explains the efforts that international organizations make, and the obstacles they face.Alcinda Honwana is an Anthropologist from Mozambique. She is professor and chair in International Development. She received her Ph.D. in 1996 from the University of London.
5) Best Non-Print Sources:
Ezra. Dir. Newton I. Aduaka. DVD. February 13, 2008. Ezra is a movie about a boy, Ezra, who lived in Sierra Leone and was abducted when he was 6 years old from his school along with many of his school mates. After being abducted he was forced into becoming a child soldier. This movie is shown in a very interesting perspective. After being showing the abduction it leaps ahead 10 years to observe the now 16-year-old Ezra being questioned by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the wake of a civil war. The rest of the story is told through Ezra's flash backs of terror during the questioning. However, its very hard for Ezra to remember what exactly happened because the teen soldiers were given powerful amphetamine injections causing them to not realize the horrible crimes they were being forced to commit. Over all this movie is about the reality of child soldiers and the fact that it will effect them for the rest of their lives. From what i have read Ezra seems like it is a very realistic movie and i would definetely reccomend it the this subject interests you.
