Erstellt am: 15. 2. 2010 - 14:29 Uhr

A child soldier's story

Kon Kelei's journey from child soldier in Sudan to advocate for the rights of young people in The Netherlands

John Kon Kelei barely remembers his life before becoming a soldier. He was recruited as a killer at an age when most children would be starting kindergarten. "It's easier to forget the nice things, than to forget the ugly things," he says, and that's why he has dedicated his life to fighting to prevent other children from going through the same thing

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Kon Kelei is from Southern Sudan. He spent 5 years as a child soldier before he risked his life to escape. He now lives in The Netherlands, campaigning tirelessly for help and rehabilitation for children of war.

Seeing a human being as an object to kill

Kon Kelei was taken from his parents at the age of 4. They were told he would be given a safe home and an education, but nothing could have been further from the truth. He was brainwashed into believing that his role as a male was to defend his people and fight for their rights. He was told he was already a man, and he started yearning for active service. Although his captors told him he was still too young to fight, he says he "had to build a heart that was a stone heart, and not a human heart, to see a human being as an object to kill."

He told his heart rending story to Joanna King:

His fight to help other children

After seizing an opportunity to escape, and after completing his own education in The Netherlands, John Kon Kelei founded the Cuey Machar Secondary School Foundation dedicated to building a secondary school in Southern Sudan, and became an educator for War Child Holland.
He says he wants one day to return to Sudan to help the young people there first hand.

Oscar nomination

John returned to his painful past when he took on the role of an aid worker in the film "The Silent Army" , which was a winner at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and is now the official Dutch submission to the 2010 Oscars. Although the filming gave him nightmares, he was determined to go through with it. He says "I want to offer a small piece of my life experiences. I hope by doing that, I will be able to shed some light on the life of children living in the bush. I really want the horror to stop; I really want children to be free from fighting. I don’t know how I can ultimately reach this goal, but I will do everything I can".

Kon Kelei featured on Reality Check - you can get the podcast of the whole programme here.