Emmanuel Jal
Emmanuel Jal
Emmanuel Jalis a South Sudanese-Canadian musician, former child soldier, and political activist. His autobiography, War Child: A Child Soldier's Story, was published in 2009...
NationalitySudanese
ProfessionActivist
Date of Birth1 January 1980
CountrySudan
football family-love games
I lost my childhood. I didn't play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.
stories
To tell my story, to touch lives.
real hip-hop fake
I don't take modern hip-hop as real. It's entertaining, it's fake, like James Bond.
children soldier mind
A lot of child soldiers lose their minds.
boys people trying
It’s no longer about the Lost Boys. They keep trying to make their way out, then they meet other people and empathize with them. It’s a story that a lot of people are going to discover their purpose from. When someone doesn’t know their purpose, they get lost.
solutions
Education is the only solution for peace.
heart cold protection
A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don't really feel anything for anyone.
god war land
[During the second Sudanese Civil War] what was actually killing us wasn't the Muslims, wasn't the Arabs. It was somebody sitting somewhere manipulating the system, and using religion to get what they want to get out of us, which is the oil, the diamond, the gold and the land.
children understanding soldier
Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.
art communication simplicity
Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.
people south knows
I don't know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.
gun knives insecurity
Knife crime and gun crime is poverty-driven, and poverty leads to insecurity.
dream sleep gun
If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.
heaven music-is
Music is actually where I see heaven.