Sifa's Story

Sifa* is 15 and she has experienced some of the worst situations that war can bring.

Abducted and sexually violated by soldiers, she has a one-year-old son. She has also been forced to fight as a soldier. “The violence started when the war started. The boys started to take the girls by force. Even I have borne a child into the world because of that violence.”

“My father is a nurse, my mother an assistant teacher. We lived in our community normally but suddenly the enemies came. They killed my sister and the child of my aunt.”

That Sifa became involved with militia is common where all normal life has been disrupted.

Democratic Republic of Congo

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“We were tired of their attacks and the war. Children were dead. Parents were dead. There was no school. Everything was bad and in chaos. Instead of waiting to become exterminated, we thought it best to become active combatants,” she explains. “I was there for three years. My ‘husband’ was the first man I knew. I was eleven or twelve years old.”

Save the Children works to demobilise children, reunite them with their families and improve their chances of accessing education.

* Sifa's name has been changed to protect her identity.

Other Children's Stories:

Pindi (Angola) » Sarah (Southern Sudan) » Henang (Nepal) » Omar (Sudan) » Sifa (DRC) » John (Uganda ) » Mirwais (Afghanistan) »