By meeting other survivors
Uganda 🇺🇬 “I lived with my mum and dad at home in South Sudan but my mum passed on, so I started staying with dad and my step-mum. She mistreated me and life became very difficult. Also the rebel group in South Sudan, SPLA-IO was affecting people a lot.
One time I went to the garden with my dad. The fighters attacked us and abducted us. They took us to different groups. So the group I was taken to, we were trained to loot and destroy other people’s property. We used to do that. There was lots of mistreatment, lots of rape. I was also raped.
It reached a point where we heard people were going to the refugee camp. So one day when we were sent to steal food and other things, we used that opportunity to run away.
When I reached the border, I didn’t know anyone there. But someone just took us and then we came to Bidi Bidi Refugee Camp.
Reaching here, I didn’t know that I was pregnant. So when I realised I was pregnant, I gave birth to a baby and now the baby’s two-years-old. And I’m almost 17. The person I am staying with here also lost a husband and this makes life so complicated and very very hard.
I’m just like an orphan and then with a kid that I don’t even know the father and I don’t know if my father is dead or alive. So I’m just here on my own and life is really hard.”
Stories Of Survival brought former child soldiers from different countries together to share their experiences
“From Geoffrey’s story I have learnt that irrespective of anything you still have people out there who are like you and they motivate you to keep going.”
“Geoffrey’s story has really encouraged me after what I have been going through. I thought there would never be a person like that in life that has gone through hardships like him. When you see Geoffrey now, you can’t believe he has gone through that kind of life. That shows you the persistence you should have in life irrespective of anything you have gone through, you can still be somebody in life, rather than isolating yourself from other people, you can find your strength.”
