Narration Sierra Leone SLASC

3.24

If ever there was proof of the resilience of the human spirit, however seriously it has been injured, this camp, in Freetown, Sierra Leone is it

3.45

Maxwell is 22. He was only a schoolboy when his world was shot to pieces.

4.20

Every member of the Single Leg Amputee Sports Club has gone through the same ordeal. All of them seriously mutilated and traumatised. . Boys like Bayo, Victor, the giant Obayo Sesse they all look introverted, almost shy, until they're in the pitch.

5.37

Maxwell is striker and captain of the first team.

6.34

Maxwell was deliberately shot in his leg by the rebels. A horrid assault, common practice during the civil war. With knifes, axes or point-blank gunshots, limbs were amputated.

All players have one leg, except for the goalkeepers. They have two legs, but only one arm.

7.20

When the UN finally intervened in 2002, after eleven years of civil war, Sierra Leone turned out to have been the scene of thousands of amputations. Cutting of arms and legs had become the trademark of the advancing rebels.

7.53

When it became clear what had happened here, most of the victims were brought together in camps in and around the capital. They remain there still, in makeshift huts. There is no support, financial or otherwise from the state.

8.10

Some of the war victims took destiny in their own hands. They started a soccer club and opened up shops. Maxwell, the striker and captain runs a barbershop.

8.25

Victor, 26, midfielder, repairs electrical appliances. He knows, it's not a solution.

9.16

Bayo, 24, captain of the second team. He was luckier than Victor and Maxwell. He has received a modest scholarship and now studies business administration.

9.40

Ibrahim was 12, when he was brutally assaulted.

9.48

He also goes to school. This way, one is offered a chance to escape this camp, and the other isn’t.

The head master is keen to show off his class, so when a student dozes off, he is quick to intervene.

10.27

Anything to prevent a new conflict from breaking out. But some just cannot leave their sorrows behind.

11.45

Bayo, the captain of the second team gets his prosthesis. It's the only provision made for victims of war. Paid for with foreign money.

12.10

How is it possible that people can mutulate each other so horribly?

And the absurd thing is that most perpetrators are still at large.

12.24

Only the rebel leaders are being brought to justice now. As for all the other culprits, says coach Sharif, where do you suggest we start.

12.54

Even at night, the heat is relentless. The rain season is about to start.

13.11

Saturday morning.

The players of the first and second team assemble on the improvised pitch at the beach for a training session. Most members come from the camps, but there are business people as well.

14.25

The Single Leg Amputee Sports Club counts over seventy members. The youngest one, the mascot, is five years old.

14.45

The players are not allowed to wear prosthesis on the field, and their crutches cannot have sharp edges or burrs for instance.

14.55

Today, the East Freetown team plays the West Freetown team. Maxwell is captain of the Western team, Bayo is the proud captain of the Eastern team.

This is their therapy. For Maxwell, Victor, the electrician here, here with the grey shirt.

... Obay Sese, the giant... and for Bayo.

17.23

But, one question remains: how can all these victims live on, knowing that so many of the guilty go unpunished?

19.30

The complexity of Sierra Leone is that there were so many perpetrators, as well as civilians who were victim and culprit at the same time. Teaming up with the rebels initially, they were brutalized later nonetheless.

Moreover, all these soccer players are victims, but aren't there members among them, who have committed such atrocities themselves, before they happened to them?

21.30

Sharif introduces an interesting twist to the story. As it turns out, some of the team members played an active part in the violence, before they fell victim to it themselves.

23.05

... says Ismael Sesay, the coach of one of the other teams. He confirms that there are perpetrators in the club. The other members know, but have accepted them nonetheless, and will not talk about it to any outsider.

23.50

Sharif refuses to go into the matter. The reason is simple: he's on dangerous ground. Afraid there will be a new spiral of violence, when wounds are ripped wide open.