“I Can’t Believe I’m a Human Being”

It must have been a great sensation of power for a nine-year-old kid.
Yeah, because you feel you can kill a big person.

Were you involved in battles?
Some of them. Some battles.

I read that at one point you and the people you were with were reduced to great hunger and even cannibalism. You had no food left and you were lost.
When we were escaping. The journey became tough. Soldiers forced their fellow soldiers to drink urine. So you put a gun to their head and tell them to fill a cup, and they would drink. A lot of them never survived. Other places, cannibalism started. Some people started eating. Even I was tempted to eat my best friend, because there was nothing for me to eat. He was dead. A lot of adults died with their pride, because they don't want to eat anything. We survived on vultures, snakes, frogs, anything that was available.

So again, it must be very strange to be at the Willard Hotel right now.
[Laughs] I'm in shock. Now I'm in a five-star hotel. It's big. It's like I'm living in a dream. I can't believe I'm a human being. I used to run for aid bags dropping from the sky. Now I'm here. And I'm using this opportunity to try to help people back at home and to encourage people. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. It can actually be a blessing.

Do you have nightmares?
Nightmares come when I tell about my story. They're not as bad as before. When I got myself involved in the music, the nightmares dropped off. Now I know when I'm dreaming, when it's a dream. Before I'd just shake. Emma would find me …

Tell me about the movie, "War Child."
"War Child" is about my story and the situation and the politics of Sudan. Me going back to meet my family, finding out who survived. It's a journey, about me and my country. I want to use it as a way to bring attention to my people. I want to build a school in a place called Leer, and also to build a school in Kenya.

© 2007