Gazing out at nearly 500 Palisades Charter High School students, Madeleine spoke shyly and in nearly perfect English. Her first words: ‘I am a former child soldier.’ Madeleine, whose last name was not released for security purposes, shared her experiences as a child soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo when she spoke in Mercer Hall on April 28 as part of a tour organized by the Human Rights Watch Student Task Force. The Los Angeles-based HRWSTF, launched in 1999, brings high school students together to advocate for children’s rights around the world. Madeleine, now 18, spent three years in a Mai-Mai militia group, which recruited her at the age of 11. She was released from the militia thanks to Bukeni Waruzi, the executive director of Ajedi-Ka, a nonprofit organization that demobilizes, rehabilitates and reintegrates child soldiers into society. Waruzi, who also spoke at the assembly, brought Madeleine to a transition center before she rejoined her parents. He later asked her to speak out internationally about her experiences as a child soldier, though doing so made it too dangerous for her to return home. She now attends school in New York City, where she is a junior and has plans to study international justice in college. Hani Tajsar, a PaliHi junior and president of the school’s chapter of HRWSTF, met Madeleine in New York City in February as part of the Red Hand Campaign, which sought to encourage world leaders to take action against the use of child soldiers. Youth from around the world met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and presented a book containing 250,000 red hands representing individual protesters. PaliHi collected about 2,600 of those hands. Tajsar, 16, said he was glad Madeleine could visit the school so that his peers could also hear her story. She spent one week in Los Angeles, visiting schools such as Crossroads, Santa Monica High, Valencia High and Marlborough. ‘This news doesn’t get that much media attention,’ Tajsar said. ‘It’s good to make the students aware of the issues around the world.’ Waruzi showed the students part of his 2005 documentary ‘A Duty to Protect,’ which he directed and produced in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He decided to make the documentary because he wanted to raise awareness through the child soldiers’ powerful stories. ‘I could have written a book about it, but I wanted to have the rough voices of the kids,’ Waruzi said. The documentary follows 15-year-old Mafille, who spent 1′ years in an armed group, and 16-year-old January, who has been in a militia group for six years and has earned the rank of sergeant first class. While Mafille was raped and does not want to return to the militia group, January describes a different experience in which she feels a sense of pride for her service. Madeleine used to be friends with January, so she had difficulty watching the documentary during the school tours. More than 20,000 children have been recruited to armed groups in the Congo, and Waruzi has demobilized more than 300 of them. The militia groups promote violence and substance abuse. They set up camp far from town centers, which makes it difficult for children to leave. In addition, the children have to sleep outside and do not have access to medical care. Waruzi brings the kids to a transition center before they are reintegrated back into society, often returning to their families. Many of these former child soldiers do not have the resources to return to school, Waruzi said. In the Congo, parents have to pay for their child’s education from kindergarten through university. One year of primary school costs about $150 a year, including fees, books and tuition. To help, PaliHi’s HRWSTF is hosting a spare-change fundraiser for Ajedi-Ka and another nonprofit organization in Colombia that demobilizes child soldiers. ‘Even with our spare change, we can make a difference,’ said PaliHi art teacher Angelica Pereyra, who helped found the school’s HRWSTF chapter 10 years ago. She and Spanish teacher Sandra Martin oversee the club. Pereyra hopes PaliHi is able to raise enough money to support the education of at least two former child soldiers. Madeleine also encouraged the students to write letters to their senators and representatives advocating change. ‘This country is very powerful,’ she said. ‘The youth are very powerful.’ Junior Joshua Pandy gave Madeleine a poem he wrote called ‘Fight for Your Life’ to thank her for visiting. A video of the assembly will be available on the HRWSTF Web site www.hrwstf.org along with a copy of Pandy’s poem.
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