Child Soldier Relief

Information, research, news, resources for and about child soldiers

June 23, 2009 • 1:22 pm 0

Invisible Children Rally and Symposium in DC: Schedule for Today

AGENDA

Today Lobby Day Schedule – Tuesday, June 23rd:

Location: Upper Senate Park – Delaware Ave NE & Constitution Ave NE

8 – 9:30am: Opening session/final training
10am – 1pm: Senate meetings
1pm – 5pm: House meetings
5 – 8pm: Closing rally @ Ellipse Between the National Mall and the White House

Invisible Children is throwing a rally on the white house lawn, June 23rd, from 4-9pm. Come out and see a handful of amazing bands and help support their efforts in ending Africa’s longest running war.

Previous Day Events – Monday, June 22nd:

The first day of How It Ends brought together thousands of people together at the DC Convention Center to listen and learn from leading conflict experts, activists, and the US Government officials who have been tasked with resolving this conflict. From start to finish, this day will be jam-packed with VIPs who have a lot to say about what can be done to stop Joseph Kony and rescue his child soldiers.

Walter E. Washington Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW
Washington, DC 20001

8:15- 8:45: Registration & Check-in
9:00-9:45: Premiere of “The Rescue” follow-up film/introduction by Jason, Laren & Bobby

9:50-10:10: Opening remarks from ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo

10:15-10:35: Keynote State Department Representative

10:40-12:1:0 Keynote Panel – John Prendergast, Stephen Lewis, Morris Ogenga Latigo, Crispus Kayonga

12:20-1:35: Break out #1
The War Room
Effective Activism

1:50-3:05: Break out #2
The War Room
The Future of Development

3:20-4:35 Break out #3
The War Room
Unlearning Culture

4:40-5:55 Lobby Training
6:00-6:30 – Closing Remarks

Filed under: Educational, Media/TV/Films, Music, Uganda , child soldiers, events, Invisible Children, Uganda, War, washington dc

February 11, 2009 • 11:19 am 0

“War Child”, a new memoir by Emmanuel Jal

Emmanuel Jal, rapper, former child soldier, philanthropist and spokesperson has just finished his most recent project, “War Child“; a memoir of his early childhood, conscription into the Christian Sudanese Liberation Army and subsequent recovery after fighting for nearly ten years in Sudan’s civil war.

Jal is a spokesman for Amnesty International and Oxfam, and has supported Save the Children, UNICEF, World Food Programme and Christian Aid. In addition to his charitable work with those organizations, he has established his own foundation, Gua Africa, aiding former Sudanese child soldiers.

An excerpt from the book:

It was afternoon and I had left the village with my friend Biel to go fishing. We were walking back home when we heard the deep blast of a big bomb. It was close. We looked at each other quickly before running to the top of a slope. Below us was our village. There was smoke and fire, people running in different directions like frightened chickens. Government soldiers were attacking. The savanna grass crunched beneath our feet as we started running down the hill. As we neared the road into the village, we saw two SPLA soldiers lying on the ground ahead and stopped. Hiding ourselves in the long grass, we poked our heads high enough to see about twenty villagers gathered by the side of the road surrounded by soldiers pointing guns at them. Other troops were beating a family.

“You’re keeping rebels here, aren’t you?” they screamed. “You’re giving them food.” Children cried as they watched while the rest of the crowd-men and women, babies strapped to their mothers’ backs, and elders-looked on with fear in their eyes.

Gua Africa: A treatment center started by rapper Emmanuel Jal

Check out Gua Africa, a foundation started by rapper Emmanuel Jal, that works to provide education for children of war, including former child soldiers.

Especially noteworthy is the Emma Academy:

GUA Africa has been granted 15 acres of land in Leer, West Upper Nile, by the government of South Sudan. Our goal is to build a high quality education centre for the whole community, which will also serve as a safe haven for children whose lives have been shattered by years of war and poverty. It is to be called the Emma Academy, as a legacy to Emma McCune who lies in rest in Leer.

Many former child soldiers have not found their way back into education [emphasis added], and traditionally only 1 in 5 Sudanese girls are supported to finish High School. GUA Africa aims to start addressing these issues in a small way by working in partnership with other NGOs as well as the government’s recently formed education department.

Filed under: Educational, Music, Sudan, Treatment Centers , Africa, child soldier, education, Emmanuel Jal, Kenya, music, Sudan

November 24, 2008 • 1:54 pm 1

Network of Young People Affected by War (NYPAW) to be launched

…soon to help former child soldiers and other child victims of war connect, communicate and heal.

Created jointly by six well-know former child soldiers and advocates, including Ishmael Beah (Sierra Leone), Kon Kelei (Sudan), Grace Akallo (Uganda), Emmanuel Jal (Sudan), Shena A. Gacu (Uganda), and Zlata Filipoviæ (Bosnia Herzegovina), the project is supported by the United Nations, including UNICEF and the Office of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, War Child Holland and the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN.

Building on our own experiences, NYPAW seeks to speak up for the rights of all these children and to find concrete measures to prevent the use of children in war. We also hope to remind the world of how resilient children are, when given the right support. We are best-selling authors, renowned musicians, and youth advocates who hope to serve as role models to all those whose lives have been affected by violence.

For more information visit here.

Filed under: Educational, Human Rights, Media/TV/Films, Music, United Nations , child soldiers, children, Ishmael Beal, UNICEF, United Nations, War

August 7, 2008 • 9:40 am 0

DeLon, M.I.A. sing about war and child soldiers in Sri Lanka…

…and are currently engaged in a battle of words.

In late July, Sri Lankan rapper DeLon released a video attacking Sri Lankan singer M.I.A., accusing her of supporting the Tamil Tigers. She denies the claim.

Check out his his video (it has disturbing images) on his blog, scroll down about halfway, called “M.I.A Paper Planes (Diss by DeLon).”

And from this article:

DeLon’s version re-cuts M.I.A. version with Tamil Tiger bombings and child soldiers, and openly questions whether M.I.A. supports terrorists. DeLon notes that M.I.A. consistently uses tigers in imagery — on clothes, in videos — and that M.I.A. has called her father a “freedom fighter.” A little back-story: Her father is credited as a co-founder of a militant pro-Tamil group called EROS, which, in turn, was once linked to the Tamil Tigers. The Tigers have been labeled a terrorist group by many countries, including the United States.

…check out DeLon’s website at this link.

And M.I.A.’s original video is here:

Filed under: Media/TV/Films, Music, Sri Lanka , child soldier, DeLon, life, music, Sri Lanka, video, War

July 21, 2008 • 2:09 pm 0

Controversial new film on child soldiers screens at UN – “Johnny Mad Dog”

A new film, “Johnny Mad Dog”, which won the Prize of Hope at Cannes film festival, was screened this past week at the United Nations – and sponsored by Radhika Coomaraswamy, special representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. Also attending were Special Court for Sierra Leone prosecutor Steven Rapp, France’s UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, and advocate/rapper Emmanuel Jal.

According to this article, the film is based on a novel by Congolese writer Emmanuel Dongala and is about:

two teens trying to survive civil war in an unnamed African country. In an interview with AFP, [director] Sauvaire conceded that his film was violent, but said that the gun-toting youngsters in the film, all war veterans, were not traumatized by the experience and rather found acting therapeutic.

Here’s a clip from YouTube.

And a review from Jonathan Romney of Screen Daily:

Cinema is forever inventing new ways to tell us that war is hell, but few recent films have explored the extremes of that hell as vividly or intrepidly as Jean-Stephane Sauvaire’s African drama Johnny Mad Dog. Shattering performances by unknowns, many of them actually former child soldiers, plus a confrontational directing style make this one of the most striking recent French fiction debuts.

Check out this 2005 interview on NPR with Emmanuel Dongala about his novel.

Filed under: Congo, Media/TV/Films, Music, United Nations , Africa, child soldier, current events, Emmanuel Jal, entertainment, film, movies, music, War, youtube