Wounded Childhood: Sierra Leone’s Worst Casualty of War
By Phyllis Kilbourn and Chris Heuertz
“Compassion fatigue” was the term coined to describe the effect that media coverage of horrific atrocities and desperate human traumas has had on us. It’s usually marked by a disinterest and an apathetic disconcern about the reality around the world. North American culture has learned to protect itself from the pain of the world by tuning out and turning the channel…easy enough for us to do, but impossible for the real victims of famine, war, and genocide.
Our compassion fatigue has permitted the terrible injustice of our ignorance about the current welfare of the reality we live in. One such reality is that of Sierra Leone, a small country in Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Guinea and Liberia.
In 1961 Sierra Leone gained independence from the colonial rule it had been subjected to for hundreds of years. Not unlike most African nations after gaining independence, Sierra Leone was ruled by a small political elite that were funded by the abundant natural resources of Africa, in this case the lucrative diamond trade of West Africa. In the 1980’s and early 1990’s, Foday Sankoh reacted to the system of exclusive patronage by developing what has become the primary rebel faction in the country today, the RUF (Revolutionary United Front). Fighting and internal conflict ensued and in 1991 the Sierra Leone military forces took control of the government. Finally, in 1996 Sierra Leone conducted its first democratic elections and a civilian, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, became president. Still the internal unrest and civil war continued. Due to the tenuous political instability, President Kabbah fled the country in 1998, only inflaming the already terrible war of horror being waged in the nation. The ECONWAS (Economic Organization of West African States), led by peacekeeping forces from Nigeria, tried to bring stability to a country torn apart. The conflict being fought by the RUF rebels was now directed at the ECONWAS forces and was aggravated by Liberia’s role in trading arms to the rebels for diamonds. In January of 1999 the rebel forces attacked the capital Freetown, using rape and torture as a tool of war – and killing thousands of innocent people in the process. A peace accord between the government and rebel forces was signed in July 1999, but in May of this year the fighting resumed. Unfortunately, outside peacekeeping forces have resorted to the same kinds of terror and atrocities the rebels have used to maintain a semblance of order and control.
Sierra Leone, already the world’s poorest country, has seen half of its 4.5 million population assume refugee status – more than any other African conflict has produced. There has been more than 25 times the number of casualties than in Kosovo and over 100,000 mutilation victims.
During this 8-year civil war the rebels have abducted an estimated 15,000 children. More than a fourth of the government armed forces are children under the age of 18. Most of these children are still being held and are missing. Many of these children have been forced to fight the civil war on behalf of the rebels or the government. These children have also been used for slave labor and forced prostitution. During the democratic elections in 1996, the electoral commission proposed the slogan, “The future is in your hands” as an inspirational call to get the population to the ballot boxes to vote. The rebels responded with a campaign of their own…they chopped off the hands of anyone they suspected to be pro-government. Today this terrible practice continues to be used as a tool of fear and intimidation, being carried out by kidnapped children who are heavily drugged and brainwashed to perform such horrendous acts.
Sierra Leone has been given democracy by the West and now needs our assistance to make it work. It is a nation that needs to be rebuilt – not only structurally, but also emotionally and spiritually. The children have taken the hardest hit and if the future of Sierra Leone is to be found in its children, we must intercede on their behalf now.
But what can one do to even begin addressing the tremendous wounds dealt to children who are forced to witness or participate in such atrocities of war? In its path, the civil war leaves behind children with deep emotional scars. Their pain is pushed deep inside; often leaving them too traumatized to even share their stories. Besides the physical and emotional pain there is shame, guilt and deep humiliation.
The children’s spirits have been hardened by the atrocities they have been forced to commit. Their spirits must be restored, for it is a child’s tender spirit that makes him or her so open, so receptive to the Gospel. Tragically, adults have betrayed the children of Sierra Leone; restoration of trust in adults is foundational to their trusting Jesus. War also destroys the children’s capacity to discern right from wrong, leaving them incapable of making moral decisions.
We could be like Hagar who was so overwhelmed by the desperateness of her situation in the desert, that she was rendered helpless in her search for food and water just to sustain the life of her son, Ishmael. With no solution in sight, Hagar placed her son under a bush, leaving him to die while she sat some distance away, sobbing and hopeless.
Distancing ourselves from the plight of the children of Sierra Leone is the easiest solution we could humanly come up with; just throw up our hands and despair of making a difference. But God has a better plan. He was not indifferent to Ishmael’s plight; He heard the boy’s cries and in spite of the impossible situation confronting Hagar, God gave her an awesome commission: “Take the boy by the hand, lift him up, for I will make of him a great nation (Genesis 21:18).”
God has given us this same commission for the children of Sierra Leone. The first step in “raising them up” is through prayer, presenting them to their heavenly Father. This kind of intercession is not ordinary praying though – it is costly prayer.
Lamentations 2:19 commands us to “pour out our hearts like water before the Lord…on behalf of the children.” The metaphor of “pouring out our hearts like water” is symbolical of a broken heart. We don’t want to be confronted with intense pain and suffering, especially of children. The starting point, however, must be a broken heart over the situations that are robbing Sierra Leone’s children of their childhood, and of the hope and future God has planned for them.
Therefore, to pray effectively, our first prayer must be to beseech God, “the Father of all compassion,” to bestow upon us His compassion. Only a compassion-filled heart can respond to the ensuing steps the Lord will show us as our part in fulfilling His commission.
Yes, the children’s vast needs, especially in light of their cruel maiming and other horrendous abuses, make the task overwhelming. But after Hagar received her commissioning, God opened her eyes to see a well of water. God knew her son’s needs and had already made provision for them to be met. And, as we pray, God likewise will show us the provision He has made for the children of Sierra Leone. But we must pray that God will open our eyes to see this provision; otherwise we will be like Hagar, overwhelmed by the need and without a hope to offer.
Having prayed through the ramifications of our commissioning, our need to be clothed with His compassion to engage in the task (Colossians 3:12) and for God to open our eyes to see His provision for the children, our next prayer should focus on the need for courage and obedience to respond to God’s calling. Don’t be surprised if God asks you to be the answer to your own prayers. May you not forfeit the joy of allowing God, in ways of His choosing, to use you as an instrument of healing and hope to the precious war-scarred children of Sierra Leone; enabling them to enjoy the “hope and future” (Jeremiah 29:12) God has planned for them.
Phyllis Kilbourn is the director of Rainbows of Hope, an international, holistic ministry to children in crisis. She is the author of numerous books, including “Healing the Children of War,” as well as a former member of the WMF Board of Directors.
Chris Heuertz has served as the International Executive Director of WMF since 1996. He and his wife, Phileena, reside in Omaha, NE.