Remi's Story
Remi is now 18 years old. He was demobilised from the MLC fighting forces two years ago. He had been living in Gbadolite with his family when soldiers swept through the town forcibly recruiting children along the way. He was with the MLC for two years, fighting on the front line and had no contact with his family during this time. Remi is not willing to talk about his time in the fighting forces. We do know, however, that when he was demobilised he went back to Gbadolite with a wife and baby. Efforts were made to reunite him with his parents but after so much time had elapsed and having suffered imaginable hardship and fear, he preferred to set up his own home with his new family.
Sadly for Remi, he found no support on his return to Gbadolite to help him reintegrate. He couldn't go back to school. He was too far behind and had a family to support. People were wary of him, viewing him both as a threat to society and as a burden with nothing to offer the community. This meant it was near on impossible for him and his young wife and baby to live adequately.
Two years on and Remi has now received support from War Child. Through research carried out in Gbadolite, War Child identified these young demobilised families as amongst the most vulnerable in terms of reintegration opportunities. Remi is now part of a project that sees him and others in similar circumstances identify, design and execute their own income generating projects. Looking at the skills they have already acquired and examining market needs through establishing contact with community members, the children have all developed projects that will supplement the meagre earnings they were taking home.
Remi proved particularly resourceful. He has bought 3 piglets and is currently building the enclosure ready for when they can leave the mother and start breeding themselves. In the meantime, he bought sacks of groundnuts and salt for his wife to start up a small business buying and selling in the market and has started his own small business buying and selling cartons of cigarettes.
He is happy because he has been given the opportunity to invest in something that promises to be profitable. The small businesses he and his wife have started up keep them busy and contribute significantly to their day-to-day survival. Equally importantly, he is more accepted by his family who see him as being better able to take care of himself. The father looked proud when he told us how happy he was that Remi was able to provide for himself and his family and lead a more stable life after such a turbulent one. They had had little contact since his return for the armed forces. Now, his father is even giving him a hand building the pigs' enclosure.