LUMEN Summer 2020 - Flipbook - Page 13
INTERNATIONAL
Healing with
humour
The Sudanese civil war
survivor who says laughter
is the best medicine.
STORY BY RENEE CAPPS
M
ujahid Ahmed was minutes away
from boarding a plane from Sudan
to Australia to begin his university
studies, when he was tapped on
the shoulder by officials and forced into a boy
soldier camp.
It was 2000, towards the end of the Sudanese
civil war, and although his status as a student
meant an exemption from forced conscription,
he was told the rules had changed.
Mujahid was only 17 years old, but he was one
of the oldest in the camp. The boys, some as
young as 13, were broken into submission by the
soldiers, with no formal army infantry training.
The aim was to normalise fighting and war.
ALUMNI MAGAZINE - SUMMER 2020
11
