WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.417
 of cotton You know because of his business. So he had like around 30 or

00:00:07.450 --> 00:00:13.886
50. I don't remember for sure like how
many but I knew they were about

00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:19.227
that that line. And then we had
another hot because if you have a cow that

00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:26.006
kind of like a really good cutter camp
would you do with you build a hot

00:00:26.039 --> 00:00:31.506
you know how I forget you know forget
the cutter because the lion will

00:00:31.539 --> 00:00:36.476
come and knife and try to hit them so
you get to care for them. So when my

00:00:36.509 --> 00:00:44.357
father did with you get too hot you
know you had too hot too for uh no.

00:00:44.390 --> 00:00:49.537
Yeah like three by the way you get to
for for cut off or just cough and

00:00:49.570 --> 00:00:54.576
then you get one for the good and
ship. You know he was a wealthy man.

00:00:54.609 --> 00:00:58.626
Yeah he was a wealthy man. Yeah that's
going to be a good story for your

00:00:58.659 --> 00:01:04.277
family. Their great grandmother. Their
grandfather was a crocodile hunter

00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:11.156
and kind of a medicine man. You know
how to you know how to he jumped

00:01:11.189 --> 00:01:16.186
people to you know with this
medication you know how to do that you know

00:01:16.219 --> 00:01:23.637
he make himself as a nurse and uh
where there is no doubt. Yeah that's

00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:28.247
wonderful. So what happened when war
came how did you know war was coming

00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:33.046
? Did you hear about it or did it just
come to your village? And that's

00:01:33.079 --> 00:01:41.079
the first you heard about it by the
way my my uh my my my my my home it's

00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:48.757
close to our cover and I'll cover is a
tom you know it's a tone way where

00:01:48.790 --> 00:01:53.997
the people that have you know like
electricity and running water and

00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:57.747
things like that they live there so we
can see the light, we can see the

00:01:57.780 --> 00:02:03.417
electricity and we see the tongue. You
know it's close to my my house it's

00:02:03.450 --> 00:02:08.856
not far away. Yeah when the war came
you know I was very young. I didn't

00:02:08.889 --> 00:02:13.786
know what exam is going on. How old
were you roughly? I was about around

00:02:13.819 --> 00:02:20.177
eight or nine at that time. Uh and
then people start you know running

00:02:20.210 --> 00:02:26.057
around you know and I can hear the big
the big guns coming out from from

00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:30.626
the town there you know and people
were our father camp and you know take

00:02:30.659 --> 00:02:35.036
us through the bushes and then you
know it was like a day evening time it

00:02:35.069 --> 00:02:42.786
was around uh four million or three
p.m. something like that. So the

00:02:42.819 --> 00:02:47.777
people that are me from the town which
is the arab army they start

00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:53.177
shooting people shooting shooting
people and they are the bullets and go

00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:58.916
past us because you know my my hours
my home is very close to the to the

00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:05.207
town you know like they should and the
bullet can go pass us you know go

00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:10.096
to the other billets And then uh this
is when I started learning that you

00:03:10.129 --> 00:03:13.886
know there is something going on then
we run at that evening we run

00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:18.367
through the bushes until you know the
shooting is stopped after like 30 or

00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.217
40 minutes and then we came back home
later my father came back home first

00:03:23.250 --> 00:03:28.647
and see that there is nothing there
and then he went and get us and then

00:03:28.680 --> 00:03:33.997
now we live in fear. We start living
in fear you know they every now and

00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:37.077
then you know shooting is charged and
we don't we don't know what it is

00:03:37.110 --> 00:03:41.217
and then we run away And then we'll
come back and then we're not becoming

00:03:41.250 --> 00:03:48.506
11 years old. So now Yeah, it was
1983,

00:03:48.539 --> 00:03:50.606
1984.

00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:56.767
This is when I was around 12 Or 11 at
that time because I was born in 1972

00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:04.800
remember yeah I was around that time,
you know it was 12 or 13 years old.

00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:12.840
So now dr john Graham came with his
group and uh William you and wine, we

00:04:12.849 --> 00:04:17.036
came into the town you know and they
need to start shooting, start

00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:21.517
shooting in there, you know killing
people randomly you know here and

00:04:21.550 --> 00:04:26.656
there and then we didn't know. And
then when he come out he tells people

00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:30.567
in the village that you know we have
an issue with people in the town so

00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:34.967
we need to control that time. And then
we keep saying why what's going on

00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.176
, okay these people they are, they put
out down this is why we do not have

00:04:40.209 --> 00:04:44.596
running water, we do not have a road,
we see the light over there. We need

00:04:44.629 --> 00:04:49.197
to have a light like that. We need we
need these kids to go to school and

00:04:49.230 --> 00:04:54.796
then you know it's become a permanent
you know mindset for people in the

00:04:54.829 --> 00:05:00.246
village. So now they know the issue is
because you know did people that

00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.806
shooting the gun, they want us to be
like the people in the town, you know

00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:10.736
and they want her to be in the go to
school and you know do things the way

00:05:10.769 --> 00:05:17.087
the other world don't you think? You
know? And then at that time we were

00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:23.246
recruited to go to the arm. You know I
remember that with with Iran Were

00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:29.416
you 13 or 12 when I start going to the
army. Uh what they did was they

00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:35.356
tell us uh there was one commander, I
can't remember his name. He say now

00:05:35.389 --> 00:05:40.496
all these kids in the village I can
take them and I will take them to cuba

00:05:40.529 --> 00:05:47.707
to cuba to cuba. So uh we we went we
we will collapse like a group of

00:05:47.740 --> 00:05:53.596
people to go to uh to eat um refugee
camp. To the eternal camera start

00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:59.856
already in uh in the border of
Ethiopia and can uh and south Sudan. It's

00:05:59.889 --> 00:06:05.067
in the pork by the Gambella. You want
right now. I want to go now. But now

00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:07.957
it's too dangerous. Huh?

00:06:07.990 --> 00:06:13.996
Okay. So there was there was a refugee
camp already established there and

00:06:14.029 --> 00:06:18.906
then at that time. Well uhh

00:06:18.939 --> 00:06:24.067
at that time you know the guy told us
that you know I would take all the

00:06:24.100 --> 00:06:28.596
kids in the village and I would take
them to I will take them to eat them

00:06:28.629 --> 00:06:32.426
and then from the time there I will
take them to cuba. And then you know

00:06:32.459 --> 00:06:37.957
now everybody because nobody wants
from the building, nobody wants their

00:06:37.990 --> 00:06:42.806
kid to go to the army. But when they
say they're going to take the kids

00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:49.317
and take them to the uh to CUBA to
school, it's a different way of luring

00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:55.906
the Children into the army, you know.
So we were at the group and then uh

00:06:55.939 --> 00:07:03.939
after we arrive in the refugee camp,
you know now there was a line for

00:07:04.060 --> 00:07:08.796
certain people to go there if you
don't know anybody there your name will

00:07:08.829 --> 00:07:15.207
not appear in the list of the Children
that go to CUba. You know, so the

00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:19.577
kid were called by the name, you know
based on the people that know them,

00:07:19.610 --> 00:07:25.837
you know in in uh in the rebel army.
So my name was not called at that

00:07:25.870 --> 00:07:29.877
time. And then I had a friend of mine,
they came with me together, he was

00:07:29.910 --> 00:07:34.806
called and then you get it then they
took him to build a bomb and then

00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:39.567
from Bill Farm they took him to addis
Ababa and then they flew to CUba and

00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:45.476
then now I was taken back to the boot
camp to the army boot camp. So I

00:07:45.509 --> 00:07:52.926
went to the army boot camp In a tarp
on it was close to the camp and then

00:07:52.959 --> 00:07:58.236
I went there and get trained. You know
with all kind of group of people

00:07:58.269 --> 00:08:02.916
and you were only $13. Only 13, 12 or
13. Were you scared or did you feel

00:08:02.949 --> 00:08:06.976
like a game where we're at the first
time I was scared. But you know when

00:08:07.009 --> 00:08:11.577
I used to it because there was some
other kid that they just look like me

00:08:11.610 --> 00:08:16.637
you know and we encourage each other
you know like we got to do this, we

00:08:16.670 --> 00:08:21.156
gotta do that and then we know then we
become an armored train and then

00:08:21.189 --> 00:08:25.676
you know they keep coming and telling
us you know you are the fears your

00:08:25.709 --> 00:08:32.016
harmony in case all these big people
go away. You will you will turn and

00:08:32.049 --> 00:08:37.356
then you will you will move forward
and here we are liberated from the

00:08:37.389 --> 00:08:44.016
arab rulers. So this is the mindset
that they they put it to us at that

00:08:44.049 --> 00:08:49.626
time and then you know um I was in the
army for a very long time and then

00:08:49.659 --> 00:08:55.506
later because the Harmony camp is good
camp is closed to the refugee camp.

00:08:55.539 --> 00:09:00.287
You know sometimes you sneak up and
then you got to go to the refugee

00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:06.067
camp. So now I have a family member
that came from my tongue. one of them

00:09:06.100 --> 00:09:13.766
is my cousin, he came with his wife
and he suddenly the refugee camp. Okay

00:09:13.799 --> 00:09:18.467
so your family is no longer at their
town no more. My father with my

00:09:18.500 --> 00:09:24.596
father and mother. They still in the
town. They still going back and forth.

00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:29.886
You know. Yeah they because the
refugee camp to their they were they were

00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:35.057
not in the refugee camp but they still
in our town but they took me with a

00:09:35.090 --> 00:09:39.557
kid together to go to CUBA. And then
they let me from there. So I did not

00:09:39.590 --> 00:09:44.907
go back home. So in the state I was in
the army and then after the army

00:09:44.940 --> 00:09:50.287
and I heard about one of my cousins
came from our village to the refugee

00:09:50.320 --> 00:09:55.866
camp. And then when I heard of him
then I came to his home and then this

00:09:55.899 --> 00:10:01.427
is when I start going to school you
know And start going to school like

00:10:01.460 --> 00:10:08.807
around 1987. It was 1987 when I
started going to the primary primary

00:10:08.840 --> 00:10:15.337
school. Yes you were 1314. I was like
around 14 or 15 at that time. And

00:10:15.370 --> 00:10:19.717
then I started going to school in the
refugee camp And then I learned A. B.

00:10:19.750 --> 00:10:27.337
C. D. You know at the age of 15. Did
you so did you have to fight? Did

00:10:27.370 --> 00:10:32.366
you ever go and fight or? Yes. Yes. We
have like a random fight uh that we

00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:39.567
go to because we have uh we have Yoko
and we had uh modeled all those they

00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:44.636
are close to us. You know They took
out there a few times and then you

00:10:44.669 --> 00:10:50.307
know, we come back and love friends.
Yeah. Was it just frightening? Uh

00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:55.197
It's frightening. But if you are into
it, what can you do? What can you do

00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:59.907
? Do you think they use the Children?
Or do you think you they really

00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:02.766
wanted to prepare you to be the army
or what do you think? Now when you

00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:06.907
look back on that, when I look back
into that, I think the plan was you

00:11:06.940 --> 00:11:11.006
know, they were they were not sure
whether they are going to liberate the

00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:17.927
country at that time. So they put us
on the reserve army to uh to take to

00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:23.057
take control of the country after
they're gone. I think that that was

00:11:23.090 --> 00:11:27.037
their plan because you know, they grew
young people when they were very

00:11:27.070 --> 00:11:33.396
very young. Uh when you do not know
anything about, you know no fear, no

00:11:33.429 --> 00:11:39.337
mercy, nothing. You know all you do is
you know if you get a people there

00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:45.407
should you know they say if they say
these people are your enemy, there is

00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.070
no mercy. You just you just shootyeah