During years of civil war in Sierra Leone, gangs of thugs would go around chopping limbs off of children to intimidate and strike fear and compliance in victims living in squalor.
Many women died, many were displaced and many experienced torture, amputations, abductions and rape. Of course many of those that suffered these atrocities were mothers, sisters, daughters, aunties, wives and women friends. Women faced many of the worst acts committed against their human rights. The children involved in the tragedy of the war are many and of all ages and are affected by being abducted, drugged, forced to partake in terrible acts against each other, orphaned and displaced.
This population lack basic human rights including medical treatment, shelter, clean water and education. These same children can now be seen as young men living on the street some are even finding it hard to comprehend what they have been involved in. These populations in society need to be addressed because apart from the fact that they are the future of Sierra Leone, they did not ask for this war.
However, out of this comes an inspirational story:
David Moinina Sengeh considers himself a lucky man — and one who feels the importance of living every day to the fullest. During Sierra Leone’s fierce civil war, as bands of child-soldiers roamed the country committing murder and mayhem, he and his parents and four siblings escaped unharmed.
But his family and friends were not entirely unscathed: Two uncles were brutally killed, and a stray bullet killed a girl who lived next door. “Anybody who lived in Sierra Leone got affected by the war,” says Sengeh, now a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab.
At the Media Lab, Sengeh is working to improve prosthetic limbs. In Sierra Leone — where amputations were used to instill fear during the civil war — many people don’t wear their prosthetic limbs because the hard plastic sockets don’t fit well. Sengeh has been working to produce custom-fitted, yet affordable, sockets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-6anyWQAME"BTW I'm a noob, this is my first post after spending the minimum four hours on the forum, send me your cash because I have a story of a mom who thinks she deserves her kids and your money."
