Plight of child soldiers inspires sixth formers

The desperate plight of child soldiers who are sometimes forced to shoot, maim and kill their own families just to stay alive, has made a deep emotional impact on sixth formers from Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

Now the same group, from Stratton Upper School, are bound for London - to receive an award from Mike Foster, Minister for International Development. They will also visit
Channel 4 News.

"Last year's Global Student Forum (GSF) in London focused on child soldiers
worldwide," explained GSF founder Nick Pollard. "Channel 4 News' Jon Snow
encouraged students to inform their peers of the situation - using all forms of creative media. Stratton Upper School's entry was simply outstanding."

Mike Foster said: “The Media Partnership Challenge Award provides an innovative way for students to learn about international development issues at the same time as developing media skills. I am particularly impressed that the competition winners used what they had learnt to inform others about the lives of child soldiers in poor countries around the world.”

To motivate others, Stratton's sixth formers produced a video - loaded on YouTube - using emotive footage of child soldiers and the song 'Wish Upon a Star' by rising star Lisbee Stainton. They drew up a petition, now 50 metres long, encouraging students to draw round their hands as well as sign their names.

At their school, the sixth formers ran special assemblies in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday and Holocaust Memorial Day and wrote articles on child soldiers in the school paper.

"We could relate to child soldiers because we are the same age as many of the people caught up in it all," said Stretton's sixth formers. "Talking personally to a former child soldier (Ben Okafor) brought it home because you don't often have the opportunity to speak to someone who has been involved first hand.

"The video we produced is hard hitting. It must have been good because it got the head of sixth form, Miss Harper, crying!"

The students will bring their petition to London, meet Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy and watch a preview of the new film Johnny Mad Dog. A fiction based on fact, 15-year-old Johnny Mad Dog heads a platoon of child soldiers - all younger than him.

Organised by the Damaris Trust, GSF has been held each year since 2005 and
is run in partnership with the Department for International Development. It is also supported by Christian Aid and World Vision and helps school students to think through spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues underlying global citizenship.