By Amin Kef Sesay
Ishmael Alfred Charles, who was captured at the age of nine to fight in the ill-famed Sierra Leonean civil war that ended in 2002 is relishing the restoration of his biblical years eaten by locusts.
The Programs Manager of Caritas Freetown is transforming lives of thousands of vulnerable people in the West African country that experienced decades of political upheaval and social strife.
The Sick Pikin Project (the Sick Babies Donation Project), which the former child soldier co-founded in 2018 to help children from needy families secure costly surgeries abroad has also earned him a nomination for the 2022 African Genius Awards, a platform that has recognized the likes of Aliko Dangote, Steve Biko, and Chinua Achebe.
Charles’ childhood was, however, not easy. It took him years after he unchained himself from the shackles of violence to speak publicly about his experience in Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war.
Charles told ACI Africa in an interview that he was a nine-year-old school boy when rebels first captured him and trained him alongside other boys to fight in their ranks.
The rebels, he said, found him visiting his father who was an artisanal miner at a village that was endowed with diamonds in Sierra Leone’s Kono District. Charles’ parents had long separated and they “took turns” staying with him.
“I did not grow up in a stable family. My parents separated when I was still very young and they took turns staying with me. My mother stayed in Freetown (Sierra Leone’s capital city) while my dad worked as an artisanal miner in Kono. I practically attended two schools all at once: one in Freetown and another in Kono to fit into my parents’ schedule,” Charles stated.
“I spent most of my time in Freetown. But when rebels attacked and Freetown was under fire, my mother thought it best for me to spend more time in Kono with my father. Everyone thought that Kono was safe. Little did we know that the rebels were coming for the diamonds in Kono,” Charles said, and added, “I was captured during a visit to my father in Kono.”
Charles recalls his capture sometime in 1991 at the onset of the conflict in Sierra Leone, saying, “The rebels attacked our village, burning houses, killing people and capturing those they thought could commit various atrocities in their ranks. Men were captured. Boys were snatched away too. We ran for many hours and the rebels eventually caught up with us in a forest where we were hiding.”
He narrates that there was a lot of hostility amid the violence and villagers could not welcome newcomers who were fleeing from their own villages.
“I was alone with strangers when I was captured. A fire we had lit to prepare something to eat is what brought the bandits our way and they took us. My father was captured separately in another village where he had gone to do some business,” Charles narrated.
Charles says that he was in a long queue of boys who were losing a limb each as punishment for their misconduct when a military plane swooped in, causing confusion and giving the boys the opportunity to flee. Some boys lost their limbs but Charles was among those who managed to escape unscathed.
When the Sierra Leonean conflict ended in 2002, Charles went back to school without having undergone any formal psychosocial support.
“I harbored terrible memories of what I had witnessed even as I went back to school,” he said, and added, “My mother and I agreed that I could never say anything about what I had seen in the war. She thought that for me to move on with my life, everything about me being a child soldier was to be buried in the past. My mother feared that I would be stigmatized if I shared what I had gone through.”
Charles says that the first time he shared his experiences as a child soldier was with a Catholic Priest some time in 2012. It was the Catholic Priest who encouraged him not to shy away from his past, noting that his story would be an inspiration to people undergoing difficulties.
“Today, I can freely talk about my childhood experiences. I am even working on a book that will have everything about my years as a child soldier and my life after the war,” he told ACI Africa January 14.
The 38-year-old who works as Caritas Freetown’s Programs Manager told ACI Africa that many former child soldiers are still walking around with daunting memories of what they saw and did.
“Child soldiers in Sierra Leone were not properly re-integrated into the society. The children who spent many years being taught how to survive in the jungle have not been taught how to survive where there is no conflict,” Charles says.
He adds, “Child soldiers were taught how to use the barrel to get anything they wanted. They were taught how to loot, how to give commands and how to sleep with anyone they wanted. Today, they don’t know how to work hard for their living, how to buy clothes and how to get married.”
In addition to his campaign roles at the Sick Pikin Project and at Caritas Freetown, Charles oversees various development projects at the Healey International Relief Foundation as the organization’s In-Country Manager.
Started only in 2018, the Sick Pikin Project has managed to raise enough funds to send children who had various complicated health conditions that required complex surgeries abroad. The children have been treated in hospitals in India, Spain and Italy. Other children have been treated in hospitals in Sierra Leone through the project.
In his circles, Charles has Fr. Peter Konteh, the award-winning Sierra Leonean Priest who co-founded the Sick Pikin Project and is also the Executive Director of Caritas Freetown and Acting Director, Caritas Sierra Leone.
Charles describes Fr. Konteh as a father and a mentor, saying, “He has put a lot of trust and confidence in what I do. There are times that I get depressed and Fr. Konteh is always there as a loving father and my counsellor. He has helped me grow in the past 13 years we have been working together.”
He says that the nomination for the 2022 African Genius Awards, which recognizes individuals who have contributed to the development of their countries through activism, business or literature, cements the trust that people have in the organizations he represents.
