Effects of War

Civil War in Sierra Leone. The war started with politics and violence and was fought from 1996 to 2001. I was sitting with my family eating dinner when we heard gun shots. My family did not know what to do. One hour later, we had the news to stay indoors. It was back then that the rebels started burning houses and shedding blood of people. Dead bodies were lying on the street. My dad decided to move from the town to the village.

Two months later, we heard that our house in the city was burned by the rebels. Tears started falling down from our eyes. We had no place to go. On March 3, 1996, the rebels entered the village looking for young boys to fight the war. My dad decided to run away from the village to the next village. We took three days walking in the bush without food or water.

We struggled for a long time before finding peace here in the U.S. These struggles stay with me.

The Health Effects of War

I always have nightmares when sleeping in the night. I have dreams about fighting, hearing gun shots in my ears, rebels killing people, seeing dead bodies lying on the ground. It makes me jump up out of the bed screaming like a dog in pain. It makes me remember the past of my life.

Depression is a big part of my life today. It makes me feel depressed whenever I think about the past things that I went through. It affects my family and I today. It always makes me stay alone in my room thinking about how to stop depression in my life. It also affects my school and my life. Whenever I think about the past war in my country, I feel like being depressed forever. I hope my family and I will one day solve this problem and be happy in life.

Anger and violence always want me to fight back. Whenever I think about everything I have being through in my country, like manslaughter of humans and losing my family through the war, I feel anger and terror. I hope my family and I never think in a way that causes any violence that will cause us to go to prison. May the lord protect me and my family.