I Am A War Child

I’m finishing up an album out for release next year called War Child and am doing a book about my story. I've got a documentary coming up called 'War Child' as well. There’s a lot going on at the moment.

The book is one of the most difficult tasks. It's heavier than the documentary. The doc is just asking me a few things, the book is reaching the cause, my life and my heart. It’s a big journey. I feel like I should give it to the people because people really want to hear it. Everywhere I go people still want to know the whole story.

I hope it will make an impact because I want to use it to represent the struggle of my people in Sudan - what they’ve gone through and what I’ve gone through. Also to give the chance, if it can, to make a voice for peace, because war is not the solution. Nobody wins in times of war; everyone loses.

In my village it was fun, even in the times of the war. There was a lot of drumming and singing. What I love about the children is even when villages were burned, the children still play. There’s a dissing game they used to play, kind of like hip-hop.

Somebody would hit a stick [to signal your turn] and somebody would say, “Your sister's breasts are so large that when she’s milking the cow she has to tie them around her neck.” It used to be a competition like that, and different kids from different villages would come. Whoever cracked the highest joke on their turn of the stick, their group wins.

But, to be honest, I hadn’t had a peaceful childhood. It was war. The village burned down and we saw people raped.