When Elephants Fight

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Authors: Eric Walters

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WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT

Adrian and Jimmy catch up, talking family, football and the future
.

WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT

THE LIVES OF CHILDREN IN CONFLICT IN AFGHANISTAN, BOSNIA, SRI LANK A, SUDAN AND UGANDA

ERIC WALTERS & ADRIAN BRADBURY

This book is dedicated to those most innocent victims of war: children.
—EW

For Isaac and Owen. You are why I am changed and why today, I remain the same.
—AB

Text copyright © 2008 Eric Walters and Adrian Bradbury

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Walters, Eric, 1957-
When elephants fight / written by Eric Walters and Adrian Bradbury.

ISBN 978-1-55143-900-6
1. Children and war. I. Bradbury, Adrian, 1970- II. Title.
HQ784.W3W35 2008    305.23086'949    C2008-903027-3

First published in the United States, 2008
Library of Congress Control Number
: 2008928576

Summary
: The lives of children in conflict in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Uganda. Portaits of five child victims of conflict, including regional history, maps and the causes and results of the conflict.

Orca Book Publishers gratefully acknowledges the support for its publishing programs provided by the following agencies: the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Province of British Columbia through the BC Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

Cover photo and all photos in the Uganda section courtesy of Colin O'Connor.
Photos from
My Childhood Under Fire: A Sarajevo Diary
written by Nadja Halilbegovich used by permission of Kids Can Press Ltd., Toronto; photos © Halilbegovich and Morrison families. Kim Phuc photo courtesy of Kim Phuc.
Photos on pages 37, 41, 50 and 55 © Getty Images; photos on pages 33 and 67 © Dreamstime.com.
All other photos courtesy of GuluWalk.

Cover design and interior maps by Allen Ford
Interior design by Teresa Bubela

O
RCA
B
OOK
P
UBLISHERS
          O
RCA
B
OOK
P
UBLISHERS
PO BOX 5626, STN. B                        PO BOX 468           
VICTORIA, BC CANADA          CUSTER, WA USA
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www.orcabook.com
Printed and bound in Hong Kong.

11 10 09 08 • 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

F
OREWORD

I
NTRODUCTION

UGANDA

J
IMMY
: W
ALKING
A
WAY
F
ROM
D
ANGER

F
OLLOW-UP
J
IMMY

REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

HISTORY

THE CONFLICT

CHILD SOLDIERS

SRI LANKA

A
NNU
: B
ORN IN A
W
AR
Z
ONE

F
OLLOW-UP
A
NNU

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA

HISTORY

THE CONFLICT

TAMIL TIGERS—TERRORISTS OR FREEDOM FIGHTERS?

INDIAN CONNECTION

RELIGION

AFGHANISTAN

F
AROOQ
: H
OME
U
NDER
F
IRE

F
OLLOW-UP
F
AROOQ

AFGHANISTAN

HISTORY

SOVIET INVOLVEMENT 1979–1989

AFTER THE SOVIET WITHDRAWAL 1989–1992

THE TALIBAN

THE TALIBAN IN POWER 1998–2001

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

NATO

ETHNIC, RELIGIOUS AND LANGUAGE DIVISIONS

POVERTY

BOSNIA

N
AJDA
: L
IFE IN
S
NIPER
A
LLEY

F
OLLOW-UP
N
ADJA

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

HISTORY OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

1945-1981

1991–2007

RELIGION

DIFFERENCES/SIMILARITIES

CLEAN THE FIELD

THE SUDAN

T
OMA
: H
OW COULD SO MUCH BE LOST SO QUICKLY?

F
OLLOW-UP
T
OMA

REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN

GEOGRAPHY

HISTORY

RECENT HISTORY

THE CRISIS IN DARFUR

ANIMISM

COLONIALISM AND ITS ONGOING INFLUENCE IN AFRICA

A
FTERWORD

FOREWORD

by Kim Phuc

There can be no doubt that in any war the most innocent, those who have had no part in the creation of the conflict, are the children. It is equally clear that there has been no war fought in which children were not those who suffered the most. Unable to flee, unable to defend themselves, unable to even understand, they have been the ones who have felt the effects of war the most. I know this because I was one of those children.

I grew up in Vietnam at a time when the country had been at war much longer than I had even been alive. The violence and conflict were always a part of our lives, even in the times of complete calm and quiet. You tried to live a normal life—going to school, working the fields, playing with your friends, eating with your family—but knew that life could instantly be altered or ended. You could only hope and pray that you and your family would be spared.

For me that veneer of normalcy was shattered forever when I was nine years old. Our village was at the centre of a pitched battle. As we were seeking shelter from the fighting, we were accidentally hit with a type of bomb that contained napalm— chemicals that cause things to break into flames. My clothes, and then my body, caught fire. All I remember clearly is the pain. Over 65 percent of my body was burned, and I was supposed to die. I was hospitalized for fourteen months, undergoing seventeen surgical procedures and extensive and painful therapy and rehabilitation before finally leaving the hospital behind.

My plight, my personal tragedy, was captured by photographer Nick Ut. This picture, which won the Pulitzer Prize, became a visual image of the horror of war and the effects on the most innocent, children.

When Elephants Fight
is dedicated to allowing the reader to look
into the eyes of five children who have experienced war and to hear their personal stories. Jimmy, Nadja, Annu, Farooq and Toma have lived through the trauma and tragedy of war. Their stories are taken from five different places around the world—Uganda, Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and the Sudan. They are all different, but they are the same in that they are the stories of individual children. War affects millions of people, but each of those people is an individual, and the most vulnerable are the children.

Along with the personal accounts of these children, the authors have provided the background to these five conflicts—the history of the country and the conflict—that led to the unfortunate circumstances that altered the lives of the children. By understanding what causes conflict, we are better equipped to understand how future conflicts may be avoided.

It is human nature to want to turn away from tragedy, but we must remember the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, who said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” I ask you not to look away. Look into the eyes of these five children—hear their stories and appreciate that these children could be your children, could be you. Let in the light.

I still bear the scars of what happened to me. I still feel the physical pain daily. The past remains part of me. I feel it is important not to pretend that terrible things don't take place. We should not forget, but we must also learn to forgive, and take an active role in helping those who have suffered and try to ease their pain.

With love,
Kim Phuc

Kim Phuc Bio

Kim was born and raised in Trang Bang, a small community north of Saigon, during the Vietnam war. In 1972, at the age of nine, while fleeing for safety, she and others were mistakenly bombed with napalm by a South Vietnamese airplane.

Kim remained in Vietnam after the fall of the country to communism. As an adult she and her husband defected in 1992, taking refuge in Canada. In 1994 she became a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO, traveling the world to speak out about the terrible effects of war on children and the need for peace, love and forgiveness.

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