Child Soldiers in Sudan

The article I am blogging about was found here on allafrica.com which I found through the links in our online class. The article is entitled “Sudan: Southern Child Soldiers ‘Need More Opportunities.’” The article talks about the attempts that are being made to dismiss all the children who are soldiers in the army in Sudan. One of the main problems it presents is that the children joined the army to help support their families because while they were under their parent’s roofs, they were underfed, etc. because their families could not make enough to support them. Now that the government is trying to offer support for the children to get out, officials are worried what will happen. Will the children go home and see their struggling families and feel they are worthless? Will the children feel pressured to go back to the army to help support their families again? According to the article, it is hard to even determine how many child soldiers there actually are.

This article caught my attention because I felt it related to this week’s class discussion about the “Myths of Savage Africa.” Child soldiers are definitely another stereotype that is associated with Africa. In fact, I can’t say that I think of any other place when I hear the term child soldiers. When I ‘Googled’ the term “child soldiers” nearly ALL the photos that came up were children who looked to be of the African race. What a sad thing for a child to have to do to support themselves/their families. According to a child-soldier website, child soldiers are typically from ages 10-17 but have been reported as young as 7 or 8. Seven or eight years old?! Even 10 years old is almost too much to even process. In America, you must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma; you can’t even get in the US Armed Forces with just a GED anymore. These children are 10 years old, they should be in school learning about multiplication and grammar, but even school is something that is often not an option for them. According to the article, education is a large problem because there aren’t enough schools and many parents cannot afford to pay school fees anyhow.


Child soldiers are such a sad, sad thing and such a typical stereotype to hear about. For us Americans, it’s unimaginable, but for these Sudanese people, it’s an everyday reality that, in some cases, is actually better for the child than being at home.

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