I am a soldier.

I was picked up at the age of nine.

I was taught to fire a gun after three months.

I killed my first teacher, an American, at the age of ten.

My family was threatened with violence, if I did not comply.

My father died trying to take me back from the warlord.

My mother and sisters were put out of home.

My cousins and friends were all recruited,

My new family is all I can seem to rely on.

My new father beats us regularly,

My brothers in arms range from three years younger to eight years older.

We are beaten and sent into battle against other boys and men,

We are sent to slaughter villages,

We are killed by the older men,

We are beaten when an order is disobeyed,

And mutilated when we don’t kill.

I am a soldier,

And a runaway.

I hide in the waste and I live.