Child soldiers

By Darcey Tyrrell

Blurb
This is a gripping story following a young boy and his sister who were torn
from their parents by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) during a raid one
night in a small village in south Sudan. They were drugged and armed to
fight a war they had no business being in.
Characters
Zimi He is a 12-year-old boy who has a strong relationship with his
parents and little sister. His family are living in poverty so he helps out as
much as he can, even if it means not getting an education. He is an
extremely tough and brave young boy.
Mya She is a 9-year-old girl who is very close with her older brother Zimi,
she relies on him for almost everything but is never ungrateful of all that
he gives her. She is frightened very easily and due to her age she is not
mentally tough enough to cope with their poverty
Dominic Ongwen he is the deputy-leader of the Lord's Resistance Army.
People who know him say he has no emotion, that his eyes are dead and
his heart is cold, the way in which he massacres villages is ruthless.
However, despite how other members of the resistance see him, he has a
7-year-old daughter that he cares greatly about.
This will be done as a one off drama lasting around five minutes. It will be
done in the style of a dramatised factual documentary. The reason I will
being doing it like this as its meant to be a hard hitting story to raise
awareness. If I were to continue with more mini documentaries then it will
seem more fictional to the viewer and it will lose its shock factor.
Narrative Structure
Exposition: The scene will be set by the sounds of engines running, male
voices and gun shots.
Narration will mainly be done through third person narration with parts
filled in by dialogue.
Conflict: LRA They terrorise a village, killing and torturing people to
enable the LRA to grow by capturing people strong enough to fight.
Zimi (internal) Although he does not agree with the cause he is fighting
a battle he doesnt want to be a part of in order to be able to find his
sister.
Mya (internal) She wants to leave and get away but when Zimi comes to
save her she comes to the realisation that if they leave they will be caught
and killed.

Denouement: The story will come to an end by Zimi and Mya overcoming
their own personal conflicts and leaving the LRA base, only to be caught
and brutally murdered.
Statement of intent
I have previously done a lot of research in to this topic as I created a five
minute public speech on it a few years back. Whilst creating this I became
extremely passionate on the topic and wanted to make it as emotional as I
possibly could by finding real-life accounts on the internet. I turned to my
sister who is a human rights activist specialising in childrens rights for
help. I will include parts of these real life accounts that I have found to
make my drama as realistic as possible to make people realise just how
bad the situation is that these children are in.
Storyline
In the small hours of the morning all of the people who lived in a village in
south Sudan called Bor were innocently sleeping, but all of that was about
to change.
At 3am a group of the Lords Resistance Army could be heard coming,
shouting, singing and firing theirs guns in to the air, but there was nothing
that anyone could do. Parents scrambled in an attempt to hide their
children but they knew it would only be a matter of minutes before a
member of the LRA would be dragging them out to be brutally murdered
and some even raped.
However this was different for one family. Zimi and his little sister hid
silently as a dark figure took his parents outside. The young boy heard his
mother screaming, begging for her life, at this moment he took his dads
machete and made his way outside leaving his sister behind where he
thought it was safe. The men laughed at him as he waved the knife about
in a freak panic to save his parents. He was pushed to the ground as
another man went inside and dragged Mya out by her hair. It was only a
matter of seconds before the boy was dragged back to his feet and given
a gun. He and his father were made to watch a man sexually abuse his
mother before Zimi was forced to shoot both of his parents.
As Zimi and Mya were torn from their village they saw all the damage, the
murders and the fear that had struck them, all this was over in a matter of
moments, the people he saw every day were defenceless, unable to
protect themselves form a brutal attack. At this time Zimi had no idea why
this had happened or even who was in charge of it all, but that soon
changed.
Zimi and Mya were instantly spilt up when they reached their destination.
A matter of weeks had gone by and Zimi was pumped full of highly
addictive drugs and handed a gun. Whereas Mya was taken and given to

Dominic Ongwen, one of the deputy commanders to do as he pleased with

her.
One of the members of the LRA saw the bravery and fire in Zimi when he
came out swinging a machete to protect his family, and use that to their
advantage. Once they had him hooked on the drugs that they were giving
him they continued by persuading him that his parents were weak and
that he would be fighting for a good cause. The man responsible for him
decided to put him in charge of a group of young boys around his own
age. Zimi took this seriously as he knew if he stepped out of line Mya
would be killed instantly. From this point he did everything he could to
gain their trust enough to find his sister and run away. Even if this did
mean attacking villages like his own.
A year had passed and Zimi was in a position to be able to get his sister
and leave. When he finally found her she was quiet, too quiet, when he
stretched out his hand for her to come with him she screamed, but it
wasnt any scream had had heard from her before, it was a truly
distressing scream, as if she didnt recognise her own brother. Moments
after, a man called Dominic came running in, Zimi shot at the man before
grabbing Mya and running.
The two only just got outside of the camp before a truck full of LRA men
had caught up with them, the group included Dominic. They drove further
out in to the middle of nowhere and threw the two on to the ground. They
were ordered to kneel and beg for their lives. Whilst doing so Mya reached
out and held her brothers hand for the last time. This she was sure of. She
knew how brutal Dominic could be, she had witnessed numerous murders
committed by the man. After all he was known for being dead inside. A
man stood behind her moving her hair off of her shoulders, she gripped
her brothers hand tighter and whispered I love you. Dominic placed a
cold, sharp blade to her neck as she silently wept.
Sound effect will be added to suggest to the viewer that she had her neck
silt and her brother was shot as he cried hysterically.

Target Audience: The audience that I am hoping to have an impact on

through this drama are people from around 18 onwards.
Budget: I will not need a massively large budget as I dont need a scene or
props but I will allow money for buying sound effects and paying my
actors and narrator.
Actors/Actresses: I will need a male with a harsh deep voice to play
Dominic as he is an adult around 40, a teenage boy to play Zimi, a young
girl to play Mya, around three extra teenage boys for background voices
and someone with a clear voice to be my narrator.

Where/When it will be aired: It will be aired on BBC radio 2 on the lunch

time slot as that is when I am likely to have my viewers listening and
avoid younger ages hearing.

Research:
Sam Childers
Machine gun preacher
http://www.warchild.org.uk/issues/the-lords-resistance-army