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Portraits of Children and War
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Fatu Sankoh, Sierra Leone
Fatu Sankoh arrived in the United States in 2000 from Sierra Leone. That former British colony, which gained independence in 1961, has been the scene of civil war for more than a decade. As many as 50,000 people died and many thousands more were horribly mutilated, raped or tortured during the fighting . Sierra Leone's brutal war was in part financed by the sale of what have come to be known as "Conflict Diamonds." A little over a year ago a peace declaration brokered by the United Nations was signed. In "Children of War," Fatu describes the tactics of killers, often children themselves. The young soldiers used amputation as a form of punishment. Fatu also witnessed the death of a close friend:
I was shaking. And I just leave the -- the water and everything and splash on the ground. I was waiting like an hour. Everything is clear at night. I wasn't sure that Abu is really, really dead. Cause the blood was in my hand, my clothes, even my face is splashed. I was like move over, I need some space.
Although a peace treaty has been signed Sierra Leone is still suffering. As preparation for war crimes trials new reports are surfacing about the role of the illicit diamond trade and the use of rape as a tool of war.
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Dereen Pasha, Kurdistan
Dereen Pasha arrived in the United States in 1996. The area known as Kurdistan encompasses parts of six nations: Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Kurds compose the largest minority without a country in the Middle East. The Kurds of Northern Iraq are much in the news — viewed as a potential player in opposition to Saddam Hussein. Dereen's father, a member of the Kurdish opposition in Iraq, was assassinated when Dereen was just five. Dereen was born January 17th, 1987, two hours before Hussein dropped a bomb on his city.Dereen reflects on what "Children of War" might teach others his age:
I hope it will affect them by listening to other people's stories and knowing that deep down -- knowing that deep down, every day when we go to school, we show a happy face to school. Deep down, there's a lot of sadness that we carry around and we have to share it one day-- one day at a time. Or one day we just have to share it all and they just have to listen because even though we show happy faces, there's a lot of sadness in us.
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Abdul Hakeem Paigir, Afghanistan Abdul Hakeem Paigir arrived in the United Sates in 2001 from Pakistan, where his family had sought refugee from conflict in Afghanistan. Already out of Afghanistan when the bombing began, Abdul recalls seeing his village on television — a hole where the house his father built had stood. "My dad was crying and my dad has nightmares now, too. And my dad has a song from [our] country when every time they put [it on], my dad and my mom cry."
Abdul talked about how taking part in "Children of War," helped him deal with such traumas:
If you tell something to the people, like I have the chance right now. I'm going to tell a big theater. Maybe some people will believe me...
And like if you tell somebody something, it's in your heart. When you tell somebody, it comes out. Like-- it's like a box and you put it on and you lock it. It's inside and it stays inside and it makes your heart like feel bad, cry. If you tell somebody, it makes you a little feel good, like it comes out.
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