Marie Agathe - Child Soldier

Marie Agathe [like Agatha] was twelve when she was abducted by a militia group fighting in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

This war has killed four million people – and left many others injured, traumatised, and displaced many miles away from home. She is fifteen. These are her words.

I too cannot forget what I have seen, what I have heard and what I have done. When I was younger, I loved going to school and helping my mum cook. We didn’t have much but my parents always made sure me and my sister Josephine ate and did our homework.

That all changed one night. The militia came to our village. At first, we thought all they wanted was to steal our food and oil, but quickly we realized that they wanted more than that. They came to our house and grabbed me and my older sister. My mum and dad tried to stop them. They killed them.

We quickly found out that the soldiers wouldn’t kill us if we did want they wanted. We were shocked at how young some of the soldiers were.

Josephine was a year older than me – soon the soldiers took turns in forcing themselves on her. I was lucky. They just made me carry their packs and cook whatever food we could get our hands on. I was always hungry.

Poor Josephine tried to escape. When she did the soldiers beat her. She got ill from her wounds and got weaker and weaker. There were no doctors, and I watched her die. When I was thirteen one of the soldiers came to me. He said he would look after me. He was only thirteen but he had injured and killed men. He hated what he did but he was scared if he didn’t do what the older ones wanted they would kill him too.

But Beni stopped the others taking me like they took Josephine. We fell in love and now we have a handsome boy called Moise [like Moses].

Last year, War Child helped Beni leave the fighting. I came back home with him. Beni wants to care for us but it is hard. Because I can read I could work, but I have to look after Moise. Many villagers look at us like we are going to cause problems. But all we want to do is get married and raise a family and be normal. Life has never been normal before, but that is what we want.

Marie Agathe is fifteen. She has seen things in her childhood than no young person should see. She is a young mum – grown up beyond her years. And yet she still has hope for her future and that of her son Moise.