NEWSLETTER

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INTERVIEWS BY MARTINA KIX
PHOTOS BY TANJA KERNWEISS

Recent reports figure that as many as 250,000 child soldiers are being forced to fight in war zones across the globe at this very moment. According to Terre des Hommes, a group of gigantic-hearted folks that acts on behalf of mistreated kids, each year nearly 500 of these young people escape and seek refuge in Germany. It’s no surprise that German lawmakers and many of the people they represent gripe and bitch about these outsiders persistently, enacting sketchy legislation that classifies them as “deserters” and forbids most from roaming the country freely for fear of deportation. Essentially, many of those granted asylum are held captive in the very centers that have rescued them.

Dr. Albert Riedelsheimer has been working with refugees for more than 17 years and is one of the founders of the Separated Children humanitarian organization in Munich. He introduced us to William* and Paul,* two former child soldiers from Sierra Leone, and Mohammad,* a refugee from Afghanistan who narrowly escaped involuntary recruitment into the Taliban. They were kind enough to talk openly about the senseless horrors they have experienced and what an unbelievable pain in the ass it is establishing an identity without a birth certificate in a country that doesn’t want them there in the first place.

*Names have been changed and faces have been obscured for obvious reasons.



WILLIAM, 16, SIERRA LEONE

Vice: Hello, William. Thanks for traveling all the way from Böbrach to Munich to chat. I hope it wasn’t a hassle.
William: No, thank you for inviting me. I’m glad to come. The German bureaucracy is pretty strict, and every time I want to leave the asylum center I need to get official permission. “To see friends” isn’t a good enough reason for German officials. If I leave the center without permission and the police stop me on the street, they can deport me.

The civil war in Sierra Leone has been over since 2002. How did you manage to escape?
My family and I used to live in Lungi, which is a small city two hours from Freetown. Around 2000 or 2001 the war suddenly got a lot worse. I was nine years old when my mom decided to take my sisters and me to Guinea because she wanted us to grow up in a safer environment. On our way, the Revolutionary United Front [RUF] captured us and took us to one of their camps. We couldn’t do anything because they numbered in the hundreds and had weapons.

What happened at the camp?
First they killed my two sisters. Before that they probably raped them. They told me that if I didn’t work as a spy, they would kill my mom. I really had no choice. They told me I should go to the other village, beg for food, and hang out with the opposing soldiers. Every evening I had to travel back to the RUF camp and report what I heard. I was lucky to work as just a spy. I heard stories of other kids who were in charge of cutting off the hands and arms of captive men. The rebels wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t fight again. The only option they had was “Short sleeve or long sleeve?” I still have nightmares about it.

How close did you come to being killed?
After working as a spy for a couple of months the soldiers I was spying on started to ask questions about me and other children: “Where are those kids from? What do they do? Why are they just here from morning till evening?” I was spying with two other kids, and they started to recognize us. They took us to the captain and he beat us up. In the end we lied and they believed that we weren’t spies. They would have killed us right away if they knew the truth. Then when we got back to the RUF camp they beat us up because they thought we had changed sides.

Were you ever forced into combat?
There’s this phrase in Sierra Leone: “The blood is behind me!” It means that the blood of the victims will chase you till the end of your days. I don’t want to talk about it.

What haunts you the most about your time with the RUF?
I don’t know… a lot of bad things happened. One day the RUF soldiers went to a village and raped the women there. They made me watch. When they saw a pregnant woman they would bet on whether it was a boy or girl. Afterward they would cut the woman’s belly open to find out. One time the soldiers forced me to join in.

My God. And somehow you managed to escape. Can you tell us about that?
I met a man who decided to help me. He told me that I should go on one of those container ships bound for Europe. I didn’t really know my final destination. It didn’t matter. I just wanted to leave and find a better life. I was a blind passenger. I can’t really tell you how long the journey was because I totally lost track of time. Maybe a month or longer? I was hiding the whole time in one of the containers. I didn’t see a lot of light. I packed some food, but I barely had anything to drink.

What were your first impressions of Germany?
There were so many people on the streets running around. I was lost because I didn’t find the right people to help me or tell me what to do and where to go. From Bremen they sent me to Munich. After three months in Munich they sent me to Böbrach. That’s what they do with refugees. Nobody stays in the big cities where they first arrive. The German asylum law is complicated and I don’t really understand it. They just send the people from place to place. It’s pretty bad.

What’s it like where you’re living now?
In my room there are seven men, but in other rooms there are more people. The place is very small. We have bunk beds and a little kitchen, but the kitchen has no window. We don’t have sheets for our beds, just some blankets. In the winter it gets really cold and a lot of people get sick.

Do you feel welcome here?
It’s very difficult for me. When I arrived the officers didn’t want to believe me—that I’m underage—because I didn’t have a birth certificate. Nobody in Sierra Leone has a birth certificate. I was born when the war was already going on. There were far more important things than birth certificates. Anyway, because of this, I had to go through a grown-up refugee application instead of an underage one. That’s why I got sent to Böbrach instead of an asylum center for young refugees. My guardian is putting together a claim so that when they finally believe that I’m underage I can go back to Munich where my friends are.

What are your plans for the future?
I used to write songs during my free time and thought that I could get into music. I like Jay-Z and Sean Paul a lot. I would like to enroll in a business class. I would like to get a diploma or something, but I’m afraid that this won’t happen here.

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Comments

	dangerboy, on Sep 3, 2009 wrote: this is so sad...you would think that after finally escaping such a fuckedup childhood theyd be treated well but no.
	el guapo, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: this would turn me into the biggest reader in the world. no point in dealing with the beauracracy just to take a walk.
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: Paul’s first answer gave me goosebumps and they remain on my arms while I type this.
	Taylor, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: I understand the receiving nations wanting to take the utmost security in taking these men (boys, really) in, but aren’t these restrictions put upon them too much? It’s not much of an improvement going from forced warring to imprisonment and scowls from locals.
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: william’s stories about the RUF are so disturbing...I almost cried when I read that they sliced open the pregnant woman
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: It’s difficult to believe that the Taliban can take a kid and have them ready to blow himself up in two weeks. It really makes me think of what kinds of awful training and torture they use on them.
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: I can’t believe they need official permission to leave the asylum center....they are basically trapped!
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: sorry but fuck the united negro college fund. these guys need more help, any help.
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: Paul’s story is definitely the most horrific
	uly, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: glad i don’t have a brainwashed feeling of victim’s blood chasing me my entire life. that’s fucking heavy.
	jiminy, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: i’m right there with you, buddy. my kitchen doesn’t have a window either.
Anonymous, on Sep 2, 2009 wrote: Kind of a bummer first thing in the morning, but man, what a powerful story.
	catbird, on Sep 1, 2009 wrote: the photographs work so well with the interviews, very strong story
	megabreath, on Aug 28, 2009 wrote: dammit i want to know how he got the 1500.
Anonymous, on Aug 27, 2009 wrote: Scumnation says "Is it something I said or is it just a scum thing with you?’
Anonymous, on Aug 26, 2009 wrote: alright, I am totally curious about how paul got the money for the smugglers...
	Fuck Russia, on Aug 25, 2009 wrote: That would have been enough to drive me insane after only a day or two. I cannot fathom doing it for a full month. Holy shit.
Anonymous, on Aug 25, 2009 wrote: I’m not sure how much they are concealing their identity. Pretty sure anyone that knew them in person would be able to pick them out of a lineup with ease.
Anonymous, on Aug 25, 2009 wrote: has it occured to anyone that scumnation might be a vice staffer secretly working to increase traffic by inventing false trolls to generate buzz around their fake articles? i thought so.
Anonymous, on Aug 24, 2009 wrote: he hid in one of the containers on a ship for a month!!?? thats so incredible fucked up. poor kid
Anonymous, on Aug 24, 2009 wrote: Scumnation, when I told you to fuck off the other day I wasn’t joking. Fuck off NOW please. You write ’scumnation says’ like we’re all here waiting for your retarded opinion on articles. We don’t care. The only reason I see your comments is because I have no legs. No this time scumnation FUCK OFF AND DIE
Anonymous, on Aug 23, 2009 wrote: Scumnation says’ I can see bullshit even if you don’t but don’t worry I have been looking on the threads of the Vice US portal. Same fuckin stories being fed to dumb ass yanks and the funny thing is while many of us on this portal take the piss cos we know it’s fake, every one of these dumb assed yanks thinks it’s all real.I think I will go on that portal for a while and have some fun any you guys with me?
	lowbrow, on Aug 21, 2009 wrote: "Wow, real Clash of the Gaytans in the comments here." finally someone with reason. scumnation, you’re funny when you want to be. stick with that. your digi-sheriffing is getting old.
Anonymous, on Aug 21, 2009 wrote: Wow, real Clash of the Gaytans in the comments here.
Anonymous, on Aug 21, 2009 wrote: hey scumation, i read this exchange and you really don’t make any kind of valid point or argument as to why or how vice fakes it’s articles. you really come off like a supreme knob end.
Anonymous, on Aug 20, 2009 wrote: scumnation says ’Scum 1 Vice 0’
Anonymous, on Aug 19, 2009 wrote: Scumnation says ’As Mandy Rice Davis said ’You would say that’ I have provided evidence in my arguments on this article as with others, so to have other readers. You are not addressing these points. It is these very points that i and others are making and your failure to address these points that will make other readers decide one way or the other. You still have failed to address the issue of identity. Are you a big hitter or are you just an intern with the shitty job of dealing with me. Or are you the writer of this article, who can’t accept criticism of their work?’
	Vice, on Aug 19, 2009 wrote: "are you going to stand by your writers and their articles by saying they are real and not fake and disprove not just my allegations but also those of other readers who feel the same way as i do and have made the same allegations in quite a number of your articles?’" Reread the first comment we left. If you’ve got any actual allegations against the accuracy any of our pieces, we’re all ears. If the entirety of your argument is "vice is a joke," we’ll just leave it at this article is real, as is everything we’ve published outside of the Fiction and Lies issues and obvious jokes.
Anonymous, on Aug 19, 2009 wrote: scumnation says ’Oh and thanks for raising my profile yet again, but are you going to identify yourself. Are you one of Vice’s big hitters or are you just one of the interns sent on to deal with me and more importantly for the readership are you going to stand by your writers and their articles by saying they are real and not fake and disprove not just my allegations but also those of other readers who feel the same way as i do and have made the same allegations in quite a number of your articles?’
Anonymous, on Aug 19, 2009 wrote: scumnation says’ I also said somewhere, words to the effect that the writing on Vice is a joke, that’s why we all take the piss out of the articles. Either Vice management don’t get the joke or you have no sense of humour. Or are things getting that bad at Vice you want to start a new troll war to get more people getting involved on this thread. if that is the case let me write my own articles and i’ll put them all in your top ten.
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