Children Of War Part 6

HUTHAIFA a" I hope I can continue my studies somehow, here in Amman.

YEMAN a" In Syria I began to compose music. There is a website called Macjams, where you can meet up with other people creating music all over the world. If you go on it, you can hear some of my music.

Here is the site: http://www.macjams.com/artist/BirdmanWayne94.

HUTHAIFA a" In Baghdad I played guitar for the US army. It was one of those nights the soldiers were going from house to house, searching for weapons. They came to our house at 2:30 in the morning. I was awake, studying for my Arabic final exam. There were five soldiers at the door. I was friendly to them, so they were friendly to me in return. I let them see that we had no weapons, and one of them saw my guitar. His name was Smith, and he was twenty-three, very young. He asked if I would play them a song. He asked in a way that was kind, like he really wanted to hear some music. I played them something from Metallica. You can tell that we both like Metallica. Then he picked up my brother's guitar and we jammed together on "Fade to Black." It was a good moment.

I saw them later, during the day. They asked me to help translate for them with someone. First they asked to search my bag. I was coming home from swimming, so I had my towel and swimsuit in a bag. Then they asked me to help translate. I did, but just for five minutes. Then I got scared that I could be killed for helping them, and I went home.

YEMAN a" I wish we could use music somehow to stop war. Maybe it sounds silly, but instead of picking up a gun, soldiers should instead pick up a guitar or a saxophone or a trumpet. They could have battles with music, to see who could make the best music. That would make the world much, much better.

HUTHAIFA a" To make the world better, I am planning to be like my father, and find a way to work with an NGO to stop people from suffering.

YEMAN a" I wish American kids could understand that we have many things in common. Really, we are not different. They don't need to be afraid of us.

Every gun that is made, every wars.h.i.+p launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.

a" Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953.

Glossary.

Abu Ghraib a" A prison near Baghdad, known for torture and executions of political prisoners under Saddam. Photos of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib appeared in newspapers around the world. It has been renamed the Baghdad Central Detention Center.

Arabic a" A language and a reference to a group of people with roots in the Middle Eastern areas of Iraq, Saudia Arabia and others.

Ba'ath a" A political party that stood for Arab unity, socialism and the separation of religion from government. It was formed in the 1950s in the Middle East.

Bedouin a" Nomadic Arabs who live in the desert.

Coalition a" A collection of diverse groups coming together for a specific purpose.

Democracy a" A system of government where citizens choose their leaders and tell them what to do.

Depleted uranium a" Radioactive waste product from enriching uranium; it is added to weapons to make them more deadly.

Dictator a" A leader who rules by force and does not tolerate dissent.

Dinar a" A form of currency in several countries, including Iraq and Jordan.

Guerrilla a" An armed fighter who engages in unconventional warfare.

Hijab a" A head covering worn by some Muslim women.

Inflation a" When the price of goods goes up but the value of money goes down.

Insurgent a" Someone who takes up weapons against the official government.

Kurds a" An ethnic group from Kurdistan, an area that currently occupies parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

Mandaean Sabians a" Followers of a very old religion that reveres John the Baptist.

Mehdi Army a" A s.h.i.+a Muslim guerrilla army, formed in Iraq after the US invasion in 2003.

Muslim a" A follower of the religion of Islam.

NGO a" Non-governmental organization.

9/11 a" September 11, 2001, the day planes attacked the Pentagon in Was.h.i.+ngton and the World Trade Center in New York City.

Refugees a" People who have to leave their home country because their lives are in danger.

Sanctions a" Economic and diplomatic "punishments" one nation can impose on another to try to bring about policy change.

Sectarian a" An interpretation of a religion; sectarian violence refers to violence between different branches of the same religion.

s.h.i.+a a" A branch of Islam.

Sunni a" A branch of Islam.

Terrorist a" Someone who uses violence or the threat of violence to force others to behave in a certain way; generally, terrorism targets civilian populations.

UNICEF a" United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund; an agency that helps governments (especially in developing countries) improve the health and education of children and mothers.

Visa a" A doc.u.ment allowing someone to enter another country.

White phosphorus a" A chemical that can be used to light up areas of a battlefield; it is also mixed with explosives to create weapons that start large fires.

For Further Information CARE (a humanitarian organization that works around the world with people living in poverty) www.careinternational.org Caritas (a Catholic humanitarian organization) www.caritas.org Collateral Repair Project (an American organization that provides a.s.sistance to Iraqi refugees and people who need help inside Iraq) www.collateralrepairproject.org Iraq Body Count (keeps track of confirmed Iraqi civilian deaths due to violence) www.iraqbodycount.org Iraqi Children's Art Exchange (exchanges art between Iraqi and American children) www.iraqichildrensart.org Iraqi Red Crescent (Red Crescent is an Islamic relief organization that serves people of all faiths; Iraqi Red Crescent a.s.sists Iraqi refugees and those who are internally displaced) Life for Relief and Development (a Muslim relief organization that a.s.sists people around the world) www.lifeusa.org.

National Priorities (keeps a tally of the cost of the Iraq war to the American taxpayers) www.nationalpriorities.org.

No More Victims (provides medical care in the United States for Iraqi children injured in the war) www.nomorevictims.org.

UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the UN Refugee Agency formed to protect refugees) www.unhcr.org.

About the Author.

DEBORAH ELLIS has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the lives of children in developing countries. She is best known for her Breadwinner trilogy, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than half a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports education projects for Afghan girls in refugee camps in Pakistan.

Royalties from this book are being donated to the Children in Crisis Fund of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People.

Also by Deborah Ellis.

FICTION.

Looking for X.

The Breadwinner.

Parvana's Journey.

Mud City The Breadwinner Trilogy (Anthology) A Company of Fools The Heaven Shop I Am a Taxi Sacred Leaf Jackal in the Garden: An Encounter with Bihzad Jakeman Bifocal (Co-written with Eric Walters) Lunch With Lenin and Other Stories No Safe Place NONFICTION.

Three Wishes: Israeli and Palestinian Children Speak Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk.

About Aids.

Off to War: Voices of Soldiers' Children.

Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees.