I would like to teach in Sierra Leone

Joseph, where are you from? I am from Sierra Leone. In the 1990s my country was going through a civil war, which began to control the diamond mines. In those years, rebel groups were forming and fighting against the government army; they also entered my house and took me away to join the army of child soldiers. I was six years old. What happened next? That day there were many other children with me. They made us walk all night. When a child asked to stop, one of the rebels looked at him and said: “Okay, you stay here and rest and we will go”. Without hesitation he shot him. Then? We went from being children who were afraid of the shots to children who shot. I learned to live with the rebels who murdered, looted and burned villages. How long did all this last? My boss had lost a son in the war and had chosen me to replace him, I was in his direct service. I stayed with him for five years. During our travels, the women of the nearby villages were forced to bring us food. One day I recognized my mother , who I thought was dead. I turned to her and using our dialect – which no one understood – I told her to remain indifferent, we arranged to meet in the nearby forest for the same evening. When it got dark I told my boss that I wanted to go walking and he gave me permission. I joined her and together we returned to the city to look for the government army that helped us until the end of the war, in 2002. What has been your path since then? At first I couldn’t figure out how to go on, then at school I met the Xaverian missionaries who told me about Chiara Lubich and the Focolare Movement. I tried to put the phrases of the Gospel into practice and I felt changed inside. Today I study at Sophia University in Loppiano, near Florence, and at the same time I work for AMU in the Global Citizenship Education sector. I would like to go back and work with my people, especially in schools, to teach children to live in a united world.