The Children of War
The former child soldiers of Mozambique's civil war offer insights into morality and human resiliency
Back home. So why have some done so much better after the war than others? Put another way, why aren't all of the former child soldiers psychological wrecks given what they were put through? The answer is no doubt complex, but at least two factors appear important to the survivors' resilience. The first is the amount of time the child spent with Renamo. Some, like Macamo and Rafael Saveca, escaped after just a couple of months, while others, like Quive, were in Renamo camps for two years or more. According to Boothby's analysis, there is an emotional "threshold" somewhere between months and years. Once passed, it's much harder to repair the psychological damage.
Then there is family. All of these kids got basically the same psychological help at Lhanguene, and almost all went through some kind of cleansing ritual upon returning to their villages. But Macamo and Massingue came home to large, exuberant families. Quive, by contrast, came home to a disintegrating household. His parents had split up while he was gone, and when he sided with his mother, his father disowned him. The village healers, Mondlane and Xitlango, say Quive's mother is unstable; they use a Shangana word that roughly translates as "she sleeps around." Indeed, she and her latest boyfriend left the village soon after Quive returned.
So Quive has not had much emotional support at home. But consider that he is one of the lucky child soldiers. He at least ended up at Lhanguene, where he benefited from Save the Children's model therapy program. When the civil war ended in 1992, both Frelimo and Renamo denied ever enlisting children in their war efforts, so about 25,000 kids were left to reintegrate themselves into their communities without any help whatsoever. Those young men's life stories are not known.
Where Children Fight Wars
The use of child warriors is a modern phenomenon. Today, an estimated 300,000 children in at least 40 countries are combatants.
[Map is not available.]
Where children have served as combatants since 1998
Mexico (Chiapas)
Colombia
Ecuador
Peru
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)
Bosnia
Yugoslavia
Macedonia
Albania
Turkey
Lebanon
West Bank and Gaza
Russia (Chechnya)
Iraq
Iran
Uzbekistan
Tajikistan
Pakistan
Nepal
India
Sri Lanka
Burma
Philippines
Indonesia
East Timor
Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands
Algeria
Guinea
Sierra Leone
Liberia
Ivory Coast
Chad
Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Angola
Sudan
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Somalia
Uganda
Rwanda
Burundi
Mozambique has been at peace since 1992
Source: Children at War by P.W. Singer
Stephen Rountree-- USN&WR
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