Liberia

Child Soldiers Cry

May 2001 – 27’

- Topshot kustlijn en Monrovia

- Devotion: hijsen van de vlag

Boy: Attention! Rise and salute! Our pledge:

Children: I pledge allegiance to the flag of Liberia,

and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, indivisible

with liberty and justice for all.

Sister T: Good morning to all.

Students: Good morning Sister T. How are you this morning?

S.T: I'm fine. How are you too?

S: We are all right.

ST: We are happy this morning, and we say that it is good that everyone is

here. So tell somebody that it is good that you are here.

S: It is good that you are here.

Let's build a new Liberia for our children

Where there is peace

Where there is love

Where there is unity

Where there is happiness for all

And we don't have to fight no more

- Individuele counseling Abraham door James Wiles (counselor)

A: In my heart I don’t feel good yet, in my heart.

James Wiles: Can you tell me what’s hurting your heart?

A: Yes

J: Tell me a little bit

A: I feel bad because I can’t see my people anymore. I lost my people during the war and that makes me feel bad in my heart.

J: So what do you want to do now?

A: If there's renewed war, I would like to join the army and fight again.

J: Do you still want to join, do you still want to fight?

A: Yes.

J: You still want to kill people?

A: Yes.

J: Do you think it’s normal for a child to fight a war? Is it good to kill?

They gave you drugs, they told you lies, and you were forced to fight. Why do you still want to kill more people?

A: Because some people killed my relatives and I haven't been able to kill theirs too.

J: So you are saying to me that you want revenge?

A: Yes.

J: Abraham, war is over.

- Shoes making

Teacher: From there we design the pattern of the heel I want to place on the African slippers, like this. This is the pattern of the heel. After you have gotten the pattern, then you go to work and carve the wood, as you see it. Listen!

All right! Then you cut the top of the slippers. Go ahead and do that.

- Radio:

N: Talking Drum Studio will play the traditional performance in River Cess on the tenth of march. In Sierra Leone there is heavy fighting going on. The sister Republic of Liberia is accused of supporting them. Situation in Liberia becomes more tensed.

And now the Family Contact: Yarkpawolo is in search of his parents. His parents were once living in Yenkwe town before the war. Because of Yarkpawolo’s involvement in the conflict he lost contact with his people. Any information leading to reuniting Yarpawolo and his parents, please pass them to them to the Talking Drum Studio. We thank you very much.

- LIBERIA HO:

Richard Lepolu (counselor):

Richard: We have fought war in Liberia. For more than seven years you and I have fought war

in our nation. We have killed innocent people. We killed our brothers and

sisters. We have burnt our homes. We cannot forget the things that we did during the war. We cannot forget about those things. But what we can do is to talk about it and to sing a song that will be telling us how Liberia went through a time of war. It will help us to forget about those Juthings that can’t leave our mind so that these things will not always trouble us .

Next song translation still to be made

- BEELDEN VAN BEGRAAFPLAATS

- Individuele counseling Ruth:

R: When they killed my brother, I tolled my mother that I want to join.

R: So I went and I joined and went for a training. After the training I started fighting.

Fight after fight I started to kill anybody that got in my way. I fought war, I killed my mother, or I wanted to kill my mother due to the medicine that was in my eye. So I went and my friends told me: don’t kill your mother. I just left.

J: If you see your mother, what would you tell her?

R: I would tell her sorry for what I did, and ask her to forgive me. I’ll tell her that it was due to the war.

- Talking Drum Studio:

Manjo: Good afternoon to everybody.

Audience: Good afternoon

Manjo: Answer me . Good afternoon to everybody.

Audience: Good afternoon.

Manjo: We are happy to be here today. We who work for the talking drum studio are travelling from one country to another carrying the message of peace and reconciliation because we

have experienced a bitter war.

Some people’s children took place in the war.

Today, from village to village, from town to town, there are people

who still feel hurt for the bad things that your children have done to

them. But we have to learn to forgive one another. We are doing a

A drama entitled: ‘Let us accept the former combatants’. It means

Let us forgive those who took up arms to fight, and let us live together

as one people. Put your hands together for this drama:

TEWAH: Eh Papa! Yea Papa!

FATHER: Tewah.

TEWAH: Pa I’m home. That’s my Pa. Pa what’s up? Why are you crying? What

Are you crying for? I’m home. You are supposed to be happy. I’m your

daughter.

FATHER: Where are you coming from my daughter? I’ve been missing you.

Where have you been?

TEWAH: Papa. I have been far away. Far away.

FATHER: Far away?

TEWAH: Yes.

FATHER: Doing what? Who were you living with?

TEWAH: I lived all alone. Papa, I am a woman. Look, I’m a woman.

FATHER: I know that it was very difficult to find food. How did you manage?

You were very young when you left from here.

TEWAH: I was a junior commando. I was the one commanding the

heavy artilleries.

FATHER: Why? Let me ask you: Have you killed?

TEWAH: If I didn’t kill do you think I would become a real commando?

FATHER: Oh my daughter. Why ? You have spoilt my name. Have you ever seen me kill

mosquitoes?

TEWAH: No.

FATHER: But why then?

TEWAH: That was the call of the day.

FATHER: The call of the day?

TEWAH: That was the call of the day, you had to do it!

FATHER: And then, what happened?

Individuele counseling Peter Seyon Fighter:

James: Can you tell me a little bit about the bitter experiences you had, the ones that hurt your heart the most.

NB next quote still has to be checked

P: I extracted a baby from a woman's stomach over an argument

whether it was a boy or a girl. I then beat the baby in the mother

and cooked it. This memory still bothers me today. It stays on my eye.

I can’t go back to my area. I am still afraid of reprisal from my victims. But it was. In war you could fight and just kill people.

- JONGENS LOPEN OVER STRAAT

- Individuele counseling Abraham:

James: Do you still have some pain in your heart.

A: Yes. If there's war again, I would like to kill my own mother because, if I can’t get things the way I want them to be and my people start telling me what to do, I feel bad in my heart.

J: So by killing here would that be the solution?

A: Yes because .................................? (ONVERSTAANBAAR)

Someone who would be telling me to go do this and go do that would make me feel bad.

J: Don't you love your mother that you would like to see her dead?

A: But when you join the army, because of the soldier medicine you don’t consider human beings as

human beings. You consider them as dogs.

- Talking Drum Studio Vervolg:

TEWAH: .....besides, I’ve been missing you.

FATHER: Wait. Stand there and wait. You said that it was the call of the day that made

you to join. Good. You looked into it and didn’t see any head or tail. I’m

I the one that you want to find the head and tail on?

TEWAH: No. I missed you. You are my father.

FATHER: Don’t say: You are my father . Say: You used to be my father. Right now,

I’m no longer your father because you and I can no longer live here.

TEWAH: What?

FATHER: I mean take your bag and get out.

TEWAH: Get what?

FATHER: Out.

TEWAH: I am not going anywhere.

FATHER: Please go.

TEWAH: I am not going anywhere.

FATHER: Go!

TEWAH: I say I’m not going anywhere.

FATHER: So do you want to challenge me?

TEWAH: What do you mean challenge you?

FATHER: Get your bag and go outside.

TEWAH: Where do you expect me to go? I have nowhere to go.

FATHER: But you have somewhere to come from.

TREWAH: I have nowhere to go.

FATHER: Go!

TEWAH: I’m not going anywhere.

FATHER: Don’t make me vex. Go outside!

MAN Is it a rough? What is wrong?

FATHER: It’s not a rough.

TEWAH: If I had my gun, I would have killed you long time ago.

- Liberia Ho Vervolg:

R: The old people are the ones that can help us. Our old people and our zoes(= medicine man)! They were all disgraced because we made them lay down. We caused them to lose respect. We have killed our people, we have killed our old men and these very old men, as we see this old man here coming to help her cry for Liberia.

Singing: Liberia ho Liberia ho........

- Individuele Counseling Ruth:

R: I haven't seen my mother for eight years now because of what I did.

J: Do you think she will be willing to forgive you?

R: She will be willing to forgive me.

J: What would you tell your children about your experience of the war?

R: I will tell them that I fought during the war and that I killed people. More than that: I killed almost anyone. I was crazy and killing people so that’s what I would tell them and I would tell my children that I even wanted to kill their grandmother, that was what I did!

J: What would you give them as advice to be good people?

R: I will tell them that during the war, I didn’t go to school and I started to go to school late. I would tell them they don’t have start too late attending school. I want them to go to school and to do something good for the future. That’s what I would advice them, and I would tell them that they should respect people and why they should respect people.

-Talking Drum Studio Vervolg:

Manjo : If all of us should continue to think about the evil things that took place during this war, we never live in peace. I want you to know that we are fighting for peace. Today we have an elected government We need to forget all the things that happened to us and make a new start for us living together as one people. We want you to forgive your daughter. Please, forgive her for the sake of peace.

Don’t cry. I know it can hurt. I know how you are feeling.

Father: My people.....

Manjo: .....yes, I know.

Father: I was hurt because my child did something wrong. No parent wants to see his child doing wrong. But I know one good thing: There is no bush to throw a bad child. So because of this I agree to accept her.

Manjo: Come and shake your fathers hand.

Father: Tewah,....

Tewah: Yes papa,...

Father: ...... You are welcome in our home. I hope you come with a clear heart. I hope you have changed and that you come to learn, you come to be obedient, and to listen to us. And I hope that you will help us to do the best thing we can do for all of us, that you will be kind in your heart.

- Individuele Counseling Abraham:

J: Abraham, do you think that now that the war is over, that you are ready to do something productive, that will earn you a living, to learn something for the future?

A: Yes. If I have somebody to help me I will want to do something for myself.

J: Do you still want to kill your mother, like you told me the other day? Do you still feel that you want to fight?

A: My friend Spencer tells me that now that war is over I should find somebody to sponsor me to go to school.

J: That’s good.

- LIBERIA HO VERVOLG LIED