VOA标准英语2011--Child Soldiers Return to Congolese Wars

Child Soldiers Return to Congolese Wars

Since 2003, tens of thousands of children have been removed from warring militias² in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Boys and girls return from the bush traumatized, isolated³, uneducated and too old to go back to school. United Nations statistics say thousands of armed children are still held by militias.  And, many of those that escape, are abducted⁴ again by their commanders, or rejoin by choice.
Technically⁵ the war in Eastern Congo ended in 2003 with a peace treaty. Five years later, a power-sharing agreement was negotiated and it ended again. But, for children like 16-year-old Wetemwami, the fighting has never stopped.
After three years with the Mai Mai, a loosely connected group of militias still fighting in eastern Congo, Wetemwami is learning masonry⁶ at a vocational school for demobilized children. He cannot go to a regular school because, in his society, he is too old. But he hopes to learn a skill, so he can go home to his village and get a job.
But Wetemwami says life outside the military is hard in Congo, one of the world's poorest countries. He says he wants to rejoin the Mai Mai, if it does not get easier. He says, as a soldier, at least he had a change of clothes.
The United Nations estimates that 3,500 boys and girls are serving in Congolese militias. But some observers say there are many more. When children escape the armed groups, many re-join or are taken back by force.
Some children return to militias because of extreme poverty. Others feel isolated when they get home because they are traumatized, uneducated and viewed as potentially dangerous. Some were forced to commit crimes in their own communities before they were taken, making them social pariahs⁷.
Wetemwami says, if he does not rejoin by choice, he may also be caught by his commander, beaten and forced back into service.
Sixteen-year-old Kikandi says he never volunteered for the militia¹ and will never go back by choice. In a classroom at the vocational school, he fiddles⁸ with a tiny hook, a tool meant to repair shoes.
He says about a year-and-a-half ago, soldiers stormed his village and demanded the young people. Parents who objected were beaten.  He says his greatest fear is being taken away again.
Jennifer Melton is child protection specialist for The United Nations Children's Fund in Goma, a leading agency in the effort to get children out of the battles in Congo. She says UNICEF works to provide social services and supplies to villages whenever possible, encouraging demobilized children stay home. But she says re-recruitment is still common and appears to be happening with increasing frequency.
"I think the forced recruitment we are really grappling with, because we do not really have good ways of preventing that. If an armed group goes into a village at night or is calling youth together, we do not really have a grasp on how is the best way we can prevent that," Melton said.
Many children serve on the front lines, raiding villages and battling other militias for control of the population or a portion of the vast riches in minerals found in Congolese mines. Others are porters, spies, scouts⁹, cooks or bodyguards¹⁰.
Melton says girls are also forced to serve as soldiers and as sex slaves. She says girls have the worst time rejoining society, because when they get out, they are shunned¹¹. Everyone assumes they have been sexually assaulted. Usually, the assumption is right.
Since 2003, about 30,000 children have been demilitarized with the help of aid workers and growing pressure on commanders not to recruit minors¹². Pascal Badibanga Zagabe is the director of the Tumaini Center, the school where Wetemwami, Kikandi and other former child soldiers learn skills like carpentry, mechanics and sewing. He says mass demobilization has created a new set of problems.
With so many children returned from the wars and so few available resources even the children who do get access to aid, get only limited care. Last year, the Tumaini Center took on 150 students. Zagabe says the school had to turn down about that many.
Compared with his current situation, Wetemwami says life in the militia was not that bad. He says he was never afraid. Children smoked ganja and drank beer to keep them brave and wore powders and potions known as "Mai Mai magic"" He says, if a soldier uses the magic and adheres to the magical rules, bullets fly past him or ricochet off his body.
Wetemwami lifts his shirt to show four protruding¹³ parallel scars on his chest. He says bullets grazed him because he broke the rules, by stepping over the blood of the dead during a battle.
In his three years in the bush, 20 of his friends were killed and he killed 50 enemies. He says his friends died because they also did not follow the magical rules. Maybe they ate cucumber leaves or touched local plants during a raid. Maybe they raped¹⁴ a woman.
He shot his enemies because they would have shot him if he was not so quick.
Wetemwami says commanders told the troops they were fighting for the liberation of Congo. But he says they sometimes attacked villages already under their control, because they needed money, food or beer.
Kikandi says he rarely participated in raids. Soldiers would go to battle and he would hide in the bush.
He says when the soldiers returned, the boys that did not fight were beaten with sticks. But Kikandi says he was afraid to fight because, in his brigade, new recruits were not given magic to protect them. Kikandi says, in his one year as a soldier, he only killed one man.  Like Wetemwami, he says he is just happy that he shot first.

1 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

2 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 abducted   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• Detectives have not ruled out the possibility that she was abducted. 侦探尚未排除她被绑架的可能性。
• The kid was abducted at the gate of kindergarten. 那小孩在幼儿园大门口被绑架走了。

5 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

6 masonry   

n.砖土建筑；砖石

参考例句：

• Masonry is a careful skill.砖石工艺是一种精心的技艺。
• The masonry of the old building began to crumble.旧楼房的砖石结构开始崩落。

7 pariahs   

n.被社会遗弃者( pariah的名词复数 )；贱民

参考例句：

• Despite the trading frenzy, Fannie and Freddie have become pariahs. 尽管他们仍旧被疯狂的交易着，但是两房已经沦为末流。 来自互联网
• This effect remains until the Pariahs are eliminated. 直到贱民的这一个效果残余物被除去。 来自互联网

8 fiddles   

n.小提琴( fiddle的名词复数 )；欺诈；（需要运用手指功夫的）细巧活动；当第二把手v.伪造( fiddle的第三人称单数 )；篡改；骗取；修理或稍作改动

参考例句：

• He fiddles with his papers on the table. 他抚弄着桌子上那些报纸。 来自辞典例句
• The annual Smithsonian Festival of American Folk Life celebrates hands-hands plucking guitars and playing fiddles. 一年一度的美国民间的“史密斯索尼安节”是赞美人的双手的节日--弹拔吉他的手，演奏小提琴的手。 来自辞典例句

9 scouts   

侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员

参考例句：

• to join the Scouts 参加童子军
• The scouts paired off and began to patrol the area. 巡逻人员两个一组，然后开始巡逻这个地区。

10 bodyguards   

n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks came to Jim's office accompanied—like always—by his two bodyguards. 和往常一样，在两名保镖的陪同下，布鲁克斯去吉姆的办公室。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Three of his bodyguards were injured in the attack. 在这次袭击事件中，他有3名保镖受了伤。 来自辞典例句

11 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 minors   

n.未成年人( minor的名词复数 )；副修科目；小公司；[逻辑学]小前提v.[主美国英语]副修，选修，兼修( minor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The law forbids shops to sell alcohol to minors. 法律禁止商店向未成年者出售含酒精的饮料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had three minors this semester. 这学期他有三门副修科目。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 protruding   

v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸

参考例句：

• He hung his coat on a nail protruding from the wall. 他把上衣挂在凸出墙面的一根钉子上。
• There is a protruding shelf over a fireplace. 壁炉上方有个突出的架子。 来自辞典例句

14 raped   

v.以暴力夺取，强夺( rape的过去式和过去分词 )；强奸

参考例句：

• A young woman was brutally raped in her own home. 一名年轻女子在自己家中惨遭强暴。 来自辞典例句
• We got stick together, or we will be having our women raped. 我们得团结一致，不然我们的妻女就会遭到蹂躏。 来自辞典例句