Child Soldiers

As we continue our group projects in Freshmen Seminar, I am finding them more intriguing. Today a group presented on the topic of “Child Soldiers” and what we can do to help them. Child Soldiers are displaced children who are brainwashed by radical groups in order to make them kill and fight in their wars. The Child Soldiers that this group focused on African children. The group’s visual aid was a video of a documentary done on Child Soldiers entitled “Invisible Children”. The video was shot by three young American boys, who went to Sudan in order to capture what was taking place during the genocide. In their video they were able to capture the heart ache, pain, and fear that each child went through while struggling to survive during genocide. There were small huts, and tents set up so that the children could sleep at night, sometimes hundreds in one tent alone. The children had to eat what they could, and had to move forward on their own. Most had lost their entire families to the genocide. The documentary was very touching and profound. It shows the truly reality of what is taking place over seas and the necessity of their need. The group who presented also showed celebrities who are doing their part to donate to the cause such as George Clooney. I believe that of all the issues that have been discussed in Freshmen Seminar this one is the most serious and needs the most attention. I say this because this is the most difficult issue to stop, and one that has hundreds of children’s lives in danger. The documentary that was shown in their presentation, I have seen it in high school and I would recommend anyone that is truly interested in the cause to watch it. Once again I really believe that this was a good topic to present to our class to make us aware of the issue, as well as a good way to bring this issue to our HBCU so that we can help our people.

Safisha Seifullah