DON BOSCO HOMES: FLOOD OF CHILD SOLDIERS
EXPECTED
MONROVIA: 1st October -- CAFOD partner Don Bosco Homes in Liberia is
preparing to receive thousands
of former child soldiers as demobilisation
starts on 1 October.
While small numbers of child soldiers have been
drifting into the night shelters run by Don Bosco Homes since the beginning of
the ceasefire in mid August, most are still with their militia units. With the
start of the demobilisation process, staff at Don Bosco Homes are preparing for
a sudden influx of these deeply traumatised children.
The United Nations
estimates there are up to 15,000 child soldiers who have been fighting Liberia's
bloody civil war. In all three militias - government and the two rebel forces of
LURD (Liberians United for Reconciliation and
Democracy and MODEL (Movement
for Democracy in Liberia) - children can make up around 70 per cent of
fighters.
Staff at the shelters are expecting several thousands of
children to arrive seeking help. Every child who arrives will be given the
chance of a new life, swapping guns for schoolbooks. Don Bosco Homes is the only
organisation in Liberia currently working with former child
soldiers.
"Many of the child soldiers who have come to our shelters
arrived with bullet wounds, most are in poor health and arrived virtually naked.
Some are addicted to the drugs forced upon them at the frontline to give them
false courage. All are traumatised by what they have seen and done during their
time at the frontline," said Kofi Ireland, one of the supervisors at Don Bosco
Homes.
Children such as nine year old James Saah who fought with the
government militia before managing to escape. During his time at the frontline
he received a bullet wound in his leg and was forced to execute two men at point
blank range. Now he will start a three month rehabilitation programme that will
aim to reunite him with his family and put him back into school to work towards
his dream of becoming a car mechanic.
To help support Don Bosco Homes,
CAFOD has brought in a team from Sierra Leone. The four members of staff from
Caritas Makeni are highly experienced in this rehabilitation work as they have
successfully reunited thousands of former child soldiers with their families and
communities following the end of the Sierra Leone civil
war.
