WarChild

Emmanuel Jal’s Story

“Left home at the age of seven/one year later I’m carryin’ an Ak-47.” For hip hop artist Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier in Sudan’s brutal civil war, these lyrics are hardly empty posturing. They are the bitter reality of a young man who was “forced to sin” but determined to “never give up and never give in.” Today, wounded but still hopeful, Emmanuel Jal fights a new battle: bringing peace to his beloved Sudan and building schools in Africa. This time, his weapon is a microphone. See why audiences from New York to Berlin to London rave about the award-winning film, War Child, and have embraced the hip-hop artist with a terrifying past and a gentle soul. Interspersing original interviews, live concerts, and rare footage of Emmanuel Jal as a seven year-old boy, War Child will make viewers cry, laugh, dance, and celebrate the power of hope.

http://www.warchildmovie.com/

I chose this video for my final blog because it is an amazing example of resilience in children growing up with the trauma of war.  Many boys in Africa are kidnapped, drugged and forced to fight in wars, to kill and to be killed.  Of those who survive, a few grow up to do amazing, creative things.  Emmanuel Jal is a singer who tells the story of his childhood through his music.  There are very few children who experience atrocities worse than these child soldiers.