My Squad Is My Family, My Gun

I Grew Up In Sierra Leone, In A Small Village Where As A Boy My Imagination Was Sparked By The Oral Tradition Of Storytelling. At A Very Young Age I Learned The Importance Of Telling Stories - I Saw That Stories Are The Most Potent Way Of Seeing Anything We Encounter In Our Lives, And How We Can Deal With Living.

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 Childhood Had Gone By Without My Knowing, And It Seemed As If My Heart Had Frozen.

How Many More Times Do We Have To Come To Terms With Death Before We Find Safety?

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