Finding happiness (previously known as Billionaire playboy's secret past)

Recruiting the young ones

This is a filler chapter which provides a bit of background to the rebels. Not essential to the story so feel free to skip it.

When we first got here, there were always rumours of young men and boys disappearing. I always thought it was because they found a way to leave this place and are living a better life somewhere. At least that is what I thought and I know a lot of parents with children missing were hoping that this was the case. The longer I stayed at the camp, the more I realised that these disappearances were a little strategic and the males that disappeared did so in small groups.

Three weeks after we got here, a group of 5 boys disappeared from school. Their ages ranged from about 10 years to 15 years. Grace was telling us that such occurrences are happening in all the zones in the camp but this year, our zone has experienced an increased number of disappearances than the previous years. The camp managers and other officials were always trying to find ways to protect these children from such predators. They soon found out that our safe refuge is also hiding rebel soldiers whose job is to recruit the young men to go and fight with them. These men come into the camp under the pretense of being refugees and they live amongst us yet watching the children and buying the children and the other parent's trust until they take them away. To them anyone who is capable of carrying a gun can be trained to shoot it and therefore, can be an asset to their fighting.

There are a number of wars going on around Kenya that the camp administrators cannot pin point which group of rebels is recruiting these kids.

They start by hanging out with the boys and forge a friendship. Incentives and brainwashing is also used to convince these boys that they are doing the right thing for their families. This has always been a faraway rumour until Mahad's 11 year old son went missing together with 3 other boys from our zone. This is when the reality of the situation hit home. The boys that were recruited included a 9 year old, a 12 year old and a 16 year old. At first Grace was in denial, arguing that her 'son will return, he was just playing with some friends at the soccer field and will come back. He does come home later sometimes'.

Those who had seen this and experienced it before did not try to convince her otherwise. They knew it was a process that she needed to go through before she could accept the reality. Mahad did not find the time to comfort his wife but when she asked him to go look for her little boy, he did not argue. He just left with a few other men, even though their faces showed what we all suspected had happened.

We stayed with Grace till the almost midnight trying to comfort her. Once her husband got back, without her son, reality finally sank in and she just broke down. I may not have a lot of respect for Mahad, but his heartbreak was so obvious and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. Now that I am pregnant, my whole perspective of life has changed. I would feel the same as Grace and Mahad.

The truth is, when these kids are recruited, they don't get enough training to be able to fight and defend their lives. They're sent out to fight as a way to boost numbers whilst the people at the top are protected and are making stupid decisions. They don't care about the children who die before they even experience what life is. Even though once in a while word gets to the camp about a death of a child soldier from Kakuma, most of these children's deaths are never reported and they are left to decompose on their own. No proper burial and no one takes note of where the bodies are left for proper burial later.

There is only one boy we have heard of who managed to escape and return to the camp. He tells horrible stories of how they were forced to take drugs so they can get courage. They did not have enough food so they forced families in the villages they passed through to feed them. They killed people for no reason other than to be feared. He says that the new recruits are the ones that are forced to walk in front or take the front positions so that if fighting starts, their leaders are protected. This 'returnee' only managed to escape because one day the rebels encountered the government soldiers and fighting ensued. He got shot along with many of his fellow rebels. He received a flesh head wound and another bullet went through his thigh. He fell and was unconscious for a while and once he came to, he pretended to be dead. His 'mates' left him without even checking if he was dead or needing medical attention. They assumed he was dead. Once they left, he got up limping and found his way back to the camp where he has since received medical attention and is working with the camp management to try and combat this growing epidemic of disappearing children.

Even though this is a story that could give hope, we all know that chances of these children coming back are very slim. They are as good as dead. Most of these children are so brainwashed, they will only listen to their commanders and they will die fighting for a cause they don't even understand.

Seeing the grief on the family, brought back memories of my dad. Knowing that Mahad's son is not coming back, sealed it in my heart that dad is most likely not coming back and if he is dead, we will never know where his body is. When we got to our tent, mum and I found my brother asleep. We woke him up just so we can talk to him about what happened. He wasn't happy about being woken up.

"Junior, you have to listen carefully, if there are any people that are older than you and they want to be your friend, run away, come home tell us ok. They can tell you about all these things that they can give you but they won't, they're lying, they just want you to go with them. Promise you won't go with them and that you will tell us if anything like that happens." Mum pleads with my brother and I can see she has tears in her eyes. This whole ordeal has definitely affected more than I thought.

"I won't go anywhere mama. I will stay with you and Maya and protect you until daddy comes back. I will tell you if anyone tells me to go with them. Can I go back to sleep now?" My brother says rubbing his eyes and yawning

Once mum and I are convinced we both nod and leave him to sleep. The whole night I couldn't sleep. I think mum felt the same way as I could hear her tossing and turning the whole night. The disappearance of Mahad's son opened up old wounds and brought up new fears.

The disappearance of the four boys quickly spreads fear throughout the camp. Parents became more vigilant of where their children were. Some boys were banned from going outside of the family yard for fear they may not return if they gave them an opportunity to go out and play. Some children were taken out of school altogether.

Even though the camp administration tries to control such incidents, the rebel 'recruiters' are already stationed in the camps where they pose as refugees. Going in and out of the camp is not always a problem as they use bribery to gain access inside the camp. This is the same way guns are brought in the camp. Officially, no guns are allowed in the camp except for those on authorised personnel, however, unofficially, guns are coming in and they are used in some of the horrific crimes that are being committed in this place.

Will all these horrible events happening, my poor mum is trying really hard to hold this family together. It just looks like she is swimming against the tide. When she thinks she has one thing covered and she has expressed her fears and what we need to do as a family, another thing pops up that she cannot control and sometimes I feel like she will unravel and lose her marbles.

Actually mental illness is not unfamiliar in this place. A number of men have been reportedly been diagnosed with some sort of mental illness. One guy just started by talking to himself and he took off somewhere, never to be seen again. The search party that went looking for him came back and advised us that they found his remains and it looked like a wild animal had taken him out of his misery.

Such events really cements my determination to get out of this place. I want my mum and brother to be safe but even more, I want my baby to have a normal life where he can go to school or to play without me being afraid that he may not come back. I want him to have a better life, I want him to learn in a safe environment, a place where making a small mistake does not result in your death.

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