In my experience, I needed to let it go and move on to another life. What you learned from the past in your life, you have a choice to correct it before it’s too late. Your life is in your hands.
– Dut Kuong
I was a child soldier. I remember the time when my parents were killed by the Northern Sudanese soldiers who were attacking our county village. We were in the district Ton J town. Soldiers were killing everybody or anything that they saw, passing on their way. Animals, children, and women were killed as they burned down all the houses and villages.
They burned four young men alive as they cried in a torch fire. The town had a horrible smell because of the dead bodies everywhere. No one was around in the town to bury the dead. I remember I was left alone, without anyone around me.
I felt like a rotten egg left in a hatch nest with no hope from the mother. I worried about what to do next, as I was young and couldn’t defend myself alone without my parents’ support. It was a very dark day, and a dire situation for me. I was just a little boy, seven years old on my own in 1987.
I lost many members of my family: my fifteen brothers, and two sisters, and my two stepmothers. It was a moment of pain and sorrow in my family, and I cried with no one to calm me down, but I managed to survive without them in my life. It was me, alone, and I had to stand up and face my situation. I made a choice in my mind to do it, or to die like them. I learned a lesson about standing up and defending your rights and the rights of others. I overcame sickness, hunger and found my own way.
When I think of the long road I took to Ethiopia, it’s very hard for me to believe it. How did I do that?
The war that destroyed my family broke out in my country in 1983, between Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. For years, it destroyed people’s lives. Many people died of hunger and diseases. 2.5 million people lost their lives because of that continuing war. I fled my country to neighbouring Ethiopia in 1987, and joined the rebel movement. They trained me and gave me the gun to go to the front line and avenge my family.
When I think of the long road I took to Ethiopia, it’s very hard for me to believe it. How did I do that? I was young, and had no transport. I made it through the abrasive desert on foot. There were no trees, no river, and only the wind whispering. I could only see the yellow grass and sand everywhere in the desert. My journey was very hot and full of drought, with no water or shade trees for taking rest. It took me five months to reach Ethiopia, suffering a lot, crossing big rivers with no one to help me. I felt hunger, sickness, and thirst. I drank my own urine to survive. I felt the cold and wet from rain, without shelter to take cover or even a blanket. I was eaten by mosquitoes on my way to Ethiopia. It was all desert and mountain.
I learned a lesson about standing up and defending your rights and the rights of others. I overcame sickness, hunger and found my own way.
When I reached Ethiopia, I became a child soldier and one of the lost boys of Sudan. I fought for 9 years on the front line. I stood up to defend my country and my homeland and her people. It was my duty to free my people and myself from Islamic law that was forced upon us. I was lonely when I lost my family members, but after I joined the army, the army took care of me and became my new family. My emotional health started charging into high moral confidence. I joined the fight to release what I had in my heart towards my enemy who killed my family members. I fought with all my heart for 9 years in my younger age, doing what adults do. I buried the dead bodies of my colleagues who were killed on the front line fighting to defend our people and our homeland from the enemy.
I was lonely when I lost my family members, but after I joined the army, the army took care of me and became my new family.
In my experience, I needed to let it go and move on to another life. What you learned from the past in your life, you have a choice to correct it before it’s too late. Your life is in your hands. Also, I learned about judgment. I used to judge myself, before I did something wrong. Now I don’t like to judge other people. Today, I go to school and work and take care of my family. I stay out of trouble as a result of this experience. Even as a child soldier I was a good leader, I was a sergeant in the army. I responded to people with openness, respect, and conscientiousness, I was always polite and humble to everyone in the methodical way of a leader.
Also, I learned about judgment. I used to judge myself, before I did something wrong. Now I don’t like to judge other people.
In conclusion, I’m a child soldier. I remember the time when my parents were killed by the Northern Sudanese soldiers. Also, I remember when I stood up and learned the lesson of being alone. I survived, being forced to flee my country. I overcame my struggle.