Amadu (SL)
On the 23rd March 1991, Sierra Leone has experienced a conflict from Liberia into a town called Bomaru in the eastern border of my country. A group of rebels referred to as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) started the incursion. Their aim was to overthrow the corrupt government of the All Peoples Congress (APC) which had ruled Sierra Leone since 1968. A decade of violence that devastated the country.
This was brutality against civilians. Throats were cut off, pregnant women undergoing brutal surgical operation by the rebels, killing people at random, men and women and children being amputated. Rebels asking sons to have sexual intercourse with their biological mothers. Houses were burnt down, while people were indoors. People’s limbs were amputated.
As the war continued, more than 10.000 people were killed. Those who survived lost their loved ones, their homes and some other properties.
On the 2nd April 1993 the war finally reached my chiefdom and our village was attacked by a group of boys called Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Their main aim was destruction of lives and properties, recruitment of children as combatants. The most interesting part was decisionmaking and my family was captured during this time, my father was killed because he refused to join. I was also given the option either to join them or being killed. To avoid the killing I finally join them in order to save the lives of my people. I believed God was with me even though we entered town to town. As a young boy of 15 I automatically became a dropout and my life became miserable. I had four brothers and two sisters and I am the eldest. As the story continued our village was totally destroyed and I seriously started facing bitterness after the ten years. I decided to go back to school. I thank God for my life even though I am poor I am still fighting to achieve my goal. Believe me, the story of my life is more than a slave in a wicked masters house."