These murals were created at the two centers for the rehabilitation of child soldiers who have escaped or have been rescued from captivity.

When we worked with the children in 2000 they provided us with drawings of their experience. We realized that there were four themes they felt important to express in a visual form: their peaceful life in the village, their moment of capture, their time in the bush and their imaginings of their future. Since drawing their experience is used as a healing tool at the centers, and their experiences were unfortunately so similar, we thought that painting a mural in a cooperative and collaborative way would add to their ability to express what they had experienced and would underscore what they already know; that they are not alone in their trauma.

We suggested that their experience could be told in a time sequence, from left to right as a written story is told. These 17' x 5' canvases are the result and we are anxious to show them and speak to the plight of the returned children wherever we are welcome.