Not long ago I had a surprisingly deep and meaningful interaction with my eldest daughter. Neve is eight years old and has always had a heart that’s sensitive to the needs of others. In recent years, Neve’s sense of justice has grown as she’s become more interested in the plight of people around the world.
I really didn’t want to be a soldier. They sent me to your home to be a student so I didn’t have to be a soldier.
A few weeks ago, we posted a Philippines fact-sheet to acquaint, or re-acquaint, you with the very basics of the country’s culture. This blog series is an attempt to remind ourselves that child soldiers are more than child soldiers. Each comes from a different cultural context with a very complicated history.
Project: AK-47 is committed to reclaiming children from armed conflict, wherever they may be. In one sense, a child soldier is a child soldier, but we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the differences between the countries we work in.
Project: AK-47 is committed to reclaiming children from armed conflict, wherever they may be. In one sense, a child soldier is a child soldier, but we wanted to take the opportunity to highlight the differences between the countries we work in. It may seem obvious, but a child soldier in Burma does not have the same experience as a child in the Philippines. Like the rest of us, these children are in large part defined by their cultures. This child is an individual, a product of his context—for better or worse—and it is our goal to work within this culture to restore the child to a life free from violence.
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