CHILD SOLDIERS AND REFUGEES End Poverty Now Podcast -- June 2010 Transcript -- I remember the day that I decided to join the Mai Mai. It was after an attack on the village. My parents as well as my grandfather were killed and I was running. I was so scared, I lost everyone. I had nowhere to go and no food to eat. In the Mai Mai I thought I would be protected, but it was hard. I would see others die in front of me, I would see others die in front of me and I was scared. Sometimes they would wip me, sometimes very hard. They used to say that it would make me a better fighter. One day, they wiped my 11 year friend to death because he had not killed the enemy. Also, what I did not like was to hear the girls, our friends, crying because the soldiers would rape them. This is the story of Jacques, from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was recruited when he was 10 years old. Welcome to End Poverty Now's podcast on Child Soldiers and refugees as well as on air with CKUT on 90.3. My name is Jen Sault According to the Child Soldier prevention act of 2007,up to 250,000 children are exploited each day in state-run armies, paramilitaries and guerilla groups around the world. Called “child soldiers,” they serve as combatants, porters, human mine detectors and sex slaves. Their health and lives are endangered and their childhoods are sacrificed. The fact of the matter is that the recruitment of children for military purposes is a war crime under international law. The international criminal court has made it so. When it comes to child refugees also, the amount of children currently facing similar trauma and this dire reality is astounding. Adverse effects on these children and their families are undeniable… both physically and psychologically… a healthy, successful, and peaceful future is very difficult to achieve. But there is hope…. \\\INTERVEW WITH JOHN\\\ Today we welcome John Nsabimana who fled his home of Rwanda at a young age in 1994 to Uganda as a refugee. He then later received an international United World College scholarship to attend Lester B. Pearson College in British Columbia as his way out of Uganda and into Canada. John has worked formerly with Right to Play as well as currently with UNICEF as their Regional Youth Representative. Jen: Welcome John, it is a pleasure to have you on the air! John: Thank you, likewise. Jen: Reading through your biography, myself as well as, I'm sure many others, are shocked to read your biography. How old were you when you left Rwanda? John: Well, I was very young. I was 7 years by then. Jen: Do you mind telling our listeners more about your experience at the time? What was it like to live in a refugee camp in Uganda? What kind of challenges were you facing and children are currently facing? John: I believe in the camp, probably everything is difficult. Life is survival of the fittest. Everyone is finding means to survive. In Rwanda, it was very tough because people were dying and so on and we saw many killings, but in the camps people were dying of things like hunger and congestion. Jen: And as a child there, did you have things like school, sport, nutrition. John: At first, there was nothing there. I started joining to school in the camp because I never went to school in Rwanda. Organisations like UNICEF make sure kids are protected and, in that, also make sure that they are able to continue school. That is how we started school. Then the organisation, Right to Play came in and also started introducing sports through school activities. As I'm sure you know, Right to Play uses sport as a tool for peace and development. We would play soccer, but that game would have meaning behind it. Jen: And if I understand correctly, it is through your connection with Right to play that you found a way to connect with the Lester B. Pearson United World College Scholarship. Is that correct? John: Through people that were working with Right to Play, Canadians, they allowed a change for me to come to Canada! Jen: It is very apparent that your life changed when you came to Canada... your work with UNICEF and all the other inspiring work you have done... Can I ask for those facing a similar situation, where did you start in the path? What did you do and how did you get involved to help child refugees to the point where you are right now? John: That is a good question. When you live the kind of life I grew up in and get the opportunity to be in Canada, I could never compare the life in Canada to life at home. Probably, no other kid would ever get the opportunity so I wanted to make sure that I could represent them in talking about the issues that affect refugees. That actually led me to UNICEF and coming from a place where people are so poor, living in a hard situation, I wanted to be part of something where I could do something for my own people. I started with UNICEF when I was appointed and I started working on the Schools for Africa program. It is a joint initiative between UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. My main area focus here is Education mainly because I understand the power that education has to change people's lives. I am very much into education and of course, as a Millenium goal. That is, by the end of 2015, all child will have access to complete primary education that is free, comprehensive and of good quality. We have over one billion children who are denied education with no change to go to school. That includes 90 million refugees. It is very challenging, but that is why I say that I am very grateful to see the willingness of Canadians to contribute, especially young kids in schools. Jen: I know that you can read in many studies and such of children that are greatly affected by the war. Do you feel that education is a way to not only give childhood back to these kids, but also a way to give 'childhood' back to these kids but also a way to help them recover past what they have gone through? To have a meaningful and successful future? John: Yes. Let me give an example here: Once you give me the chance to go to school, then I am going to finish school, get qualifications and then I can find a job. I won't have to live in a camp and then I can help my family, anybody... but, if you are providing me with things to eat everyday without the chance to go to school, this will not help me in the long term. What we are providing is for people to be self sufficient, for people to be able to stand for themselves and do things for themselves.. to help their families and so on. I see education as the best way to do that, the best investment. Jen: You are a good example of how education can turn your life around. John: well, thank you. I think that if I was not given the opportunity to go school from the very beginning in UNICEF tents, I would not be able to speak with you in English because I never spoke English before. My first language was Kinrwanda, the language we speak in Rwanda. So, I don't think there would be any way for me to pick up the phone and have this conversation with you. Jen: Well, thank you so much for having this interview. I know that I am learning a lot and I know that our listeners are too. Again, that was John Nsambimana, Youth Regional Representative, British Columbia. As mentioned, in Rwanda, approximately 4500 child soldiers aged 10 to 18 were in the military during the cival war according to the United Nations. Currently, human rights are saying that the estimate is upwards of 300000. Over 50 countries are currently recruiting child soldiers. Groups such as Invisible Children, Amnesty International, UNICEF, CARE, WarChild, Right to Play and many others are fighting to protect the rights of the child. The Invisible Children's international campaign, 'The Rescue' in 2009 is a prime example of a meaningful initiative that can forever shape the world. Over thousands of individuals in 86 cities international joined to stay outside until people took notice. They then followed this up by rallying leaders in Washington DC to counter the use of child soldiers in Uganda. See their site, www.invisiblechildren.com for more information. This is a movement that made political leaders take notice and do something about it. The aforementioned organizations are all holding their own events to stop the use of child soldiers and to benefit the child. Find out what these groups are doing and support them. If this is not enough, create your own. In the words of the Help Child Soldiers Fight initiative, 'we are supporting the problem if we are doing nothing to stop it' In this spirit, here is a song. It is called, 'I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier' by the Young Soul Rebels. It was released in 2009 and all proceeds from this track go to benefit War Chid. \\\I'VE GOT SOUL, BUT I'M NOT A SOLDIER\\\\ When I was young, my father used to say that if you are alive, there is hope for a better day and for something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she would die. I thought about these words in my journal and they kept me moving even when I did not know where I was going. These were the words that became my vehicle that drove my spirit forward and made it stay alive. Children have the resiliance to outlive their sufferings if given a chance. These are the words of Ishmael Beah in his book, 'A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Soldier Boy'. This is our podcast for this month on End Poverty Now and C.K.U.T. 90.3. Thank you for listening.