CHILD SOLDIERS’ VULNERABILITY IN DAVID HARTNESS’ AMANI’S RIVER

BY
OLUWAGBEMINIYI BAMISAYE
BABCOCK UNIVERSITY, ILISHAN-REMO, OGUN STATE
(gbeminiyiabolarin@gmail.com,
(bamisayeg@babcock.edu.ng)
+2347038761915

ABSTRACT

The use of child soldiers in Africa has been an age-long social phenomenon which is far
widespread more than the sparse attention it receives. Children as innocent as they are maybe the
smallest victims of armed conflict, but are always the recipients of the brunt. During conflicts,
children and young people’s rights are violated on a massive scale. Their rights to live in dignity
and be supported, protected from violence, abuse, neglect and develop to their full potentials are
usually impeded. Wars have claimed the lives of many innocent children, displaced several
families and have negative impacts on the significant numbers of children participating as active
combatants. This study therefore examines child soldiers’ vulnerability in David Hartness’
Amani’s River. Using Caruth’s aspect of Trauma theory, this paper uncovers the traumatic
experiences of child victims, the effects of such experiences on the victims and the coping
strategies adopted by them. Findings revealed that traumatic events can provoke emotional and
psychological reactions such as hyper-vigilance, jumpiness, intrusive images related to the
traumatic events, repeated flashbacks, racing heart and trembling. The study demonstrated that
armed conflict victims, as narrators in literary novels, are able to convincingly recount the
horrors and agonies of child soldiering. It was recommended that literary writers should use
victims to tell their own stories.

Keywords: Africa, Armed Conflict, Child Soldiers, Trauma, Narration, Experiences

Author’s Biography

David Hartness was raised on Vashon, a small island in Puget Sound, Washington. David learned
the values of life and hard work to pursue his ambitions. This led him to travel internationally,
serving a small school in Ebukolo, Kenya. While in Kenya, he lived in a mud hut with no running
water or electricity. Mr Hartness had ambitions to make lasting change while in Kenya but ended up
learning more from the experience than he gave back. He later served in the U.S. Peace Corps as an
education volunteer stationed in Namaacha, Mozambique. Upon leaving service, David continued
his education, receiving an MBA from Walden University, and currently enrolled in a DBA
program. Amani's River is David's first full-length novel (www. bragmedallion.com).

Synopsis of the Novel

Amani’s River explores the life and struggles of a ten-year-old boy, Aderito whose family relocates
from the United States of America to help with missionary work at a hospital in Homoine,
Mozambique. At first, Aderito finds it hard to comprehend the reason behind his father’s irrational
decision to join in the fight against the war between the RENAMO (Mozambique Resistance
Movement) and the FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique). The war started as a
diplomatic struggle but later turned more bloody as the citizens fought one another with the
intention of achieving a true democratic society. RENAMO fights and terrorizes small towns and
rural areas while the larger cities are controlled by the FRELIMO, forcing them to fight against
hundreds in far-reaching and dense areas.

Aderito’s arrival to his new home at Homoine brings him great depression and loneliness. His
inability to understand the language of the people also adds to his distress. After spending several
weeks in Mozambique, he becomes accustomed to the people’s way of life and befriends a girl
named Victoria, who he usually shares his spare time with at a small river in the village. For a brief
time, everything seems perfect for them and their childhood looks promising until violence makes
its way to Aderito and Victoria. The duo are abducted at their usual playground by soldiers and
rebels who take them to their camp where other abducted child soldiers are. At the camp, the
soldiers deprive the children of good food, instilling fear into them. The abducted child soldiers are
forced to learn the ways of trained killers in a war they barely understand. Aderito becomes a
trained child soldier while Victoria becomes a domestic servant, sex slave and child soldier.
Aderito stands out from other children and becomes the commander’s favourite because of the urge
he has developed to kill whoever he is instructed to kill or feels like killing. But the more Aderito
kills, the more he needs killing. In a bid to make Aderito a hardened killer, the commander usually
gives him cocaine which makes him high and blind to the atrocities he is committing but with
Victoria’s assistance and counsel, he often regains his consciousness. Victoria, on the other hand, is
confronted with negative experiences as she becomes a sex slave to soldiers who usually rape and
molest her especially when they feel the urge to do so. After several molestations from soldiers,
Aderito comes to her aid by claiming her as his.

The duo encounter more challenges as they have to keep fighting to stay alive and avoid the chance
of being noticed by the commander. One day, during Aderito’s patrol on the camp’s wall, he meets
some men who claim to be saviours of child soldiers; he considers this a lifetime opportunity. While
making an attempt to get Victoria so they can escape together, they are caught by the commander
who punishes Aderito by depriving him of food for three days. Their struggle continues as Victoria
becomes pregnant for Zeilo, one of the soldiers who rape her but doesn’t want anything to do with
the pregnancy. A week after her baby’s delivery, the commander requires her to brace up and join
the other soldiers with her baby fastened to her back. The commander exhibits his inhumane nature
and insensitivity to Victoria’s plight which increases her hatred for him. Victoria is raped again
some days after the delivery of her son; this singular act triggers her urge to escape from the camp.

Victoria’s attempt to escape from the camp without the help of Aderito proves abortive as she is
caught by some patrolling soldiers. The commander passes his judgment; and he instructs Aderito
to kill Victoria, Aderito makes several attempts to change the commander’s decision but he refuses
to bend. Victoria and her baby lost their lives the same day as a result of the commander’s irrational
decision. This incidence depresses Aderito and at the same time gives him a reason to keep fighting.
The commander gives him some days off to reflect, after several days off, the soldiers recoup and
continue with their destructive act which they take to Homoine, Aderito’s long lost community.
During the soldiers’ invasion of the hospital where war victims are being treated, Aderito’s father
identifies him from other soldiers, though Aderito did not identify his father due to the long-term
separation between them.

Aderito’s father invites him to their house where he reunites with his family. After the reunion with
his family, all the atrocities he has committed while at the soldiers’ camp hunt him and his life is
full of guilt and regrets. The love and care shown to him by his parents reassures him and helps him
overcome his depression and pain. Aderito’s family thinks of relocating back to the United States
after they have found their long-lost son but their joy is short-lived when the commander of the
camp traces Aderito back to the house. Amani, Aderito’s father, loses his life after his confrontation
with the commander in a bid to save Aderito from him. After Amani’s death, Aderito and his
mother take his ashes to the river which is named after him, Amani’s River. The name, Amani
signifies peace which is also one of the qualities of the river. Several days after Amani’s burial in
Amani’s river, Aderito and his mother with the assistance of a reverend who is also a family friend
relocates back to the States where they start their life afresh though the memories of the war still
linger in their hearts.

Methodology

This study employed the literary analysis of child labour experiences in Amani’s River. The study
adopted a qualitative approach in carrying out the study which involves analytical and close textual
reading of the selected primary novel to bring out the factors responsible for child labour, forms,
effects of child labour and coping strategies exhibited by child labour victims in the novel. The
aspects of trauma theory such as memory, repression symptoms of trauma and Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) was used to analyze the traumatic experiences of child soldiers, the
prevalence of violence against children and how they struggle to survive the negative experiences.

Theoretical Framework

For the analytical task to achieve its intended purpose, it is necessary to have an appropriate
theoretical model for the analysis of the selected novels. Hence, to develop a suitable model, the
theory adopted is Trauma theory. Trauma theory was employed in the appraisal and examination of
the traumatic experiences. The aspects employed for the analysis of this study are repression,
memory and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also allowed for the understanding of the behaviours
and actions of the identified child labourers analyzed.

Trauma theory emerged in the 1960s from several areas of social concern: recognition of the
prevalence of violence against women and children (rape, battering and incest); identification of the
phenomenon of PTSD in (Vietnam) war veterans; and awareness of the psychic scars inflicted by
torture and genocide, especially regarding the Holocaust. Trauma theory attempts to understand the
different ways by which traumatic occurrences are demonstrated, processed, exposed and repressed
throughout a variety of literary and historical novels.

Trauma has been perceived and defined in different ways over the years, dependent on the
development of knowledge and the understanding of the impact of traumatic experiences on the
individual, family, community and society (van der Kolk, 2014). In recent decades, the definition of
trauma has been consistently inclusive of the following elements: (1) an identified event or series of
events that is (2) experienced by the individuals as physically or emotionally harmful, threatening
or overwhelming and (3) has lasting and holistic effects on the individual’s functioning (Herman,
1992; Laplanche and Pontalis, 1973; Ringel and Brandell, 2012; Substance Abuse and Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA) 2012; Van der Kolk, 2004).

Trauma as a term of medical science refers to bodily wounds and injury. Trauma therapy which
initially concerned itself with healing physical injury has branched out to address issues of deep
psychic and emotional hurt with the help of medical and non-medical aids. The field of trauma
studies in literary criticism gained significant attention in 1996 with the publication of Cathy
Caruth’s Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and History and Kali Tali’s World of Hurt:
Reading the Literature of Trauma. Early scholarship shaped the initial course of literary trauma
theory by popularizing the idea of trauma as an unrepresentable event. Greek etymology helps to
define trauma as a physical wound inflicted upon the body. However, in recent years, it has come to
be recognized as a psychological wound of the mind. This definition by Caruth underscores the
difficulties faced when attempting to represent trauma as it pierces the psyche and disrupts
temporality, resulting in the paralysis of mental faculties. Caruth in her collections of essays named
Trauma, Narrative and History (1996) in its most general definition describes trauma as an
overwhelming experience of sudden catastrophic events in which the response to the event occurs in
the often delayed, uncontrolled repetitive appearance of hallucinations and other intrusive
phenomena (11). Balaev also defines trauma as a person’s emotional response to an overpowering
event that disturbs previous ideas of an individual’s sense of self and the standards by which one
evaluates society (150).
Child Soldiers’ Vulnerability in David Hartness’ Amani’s River

Aderito’s narration unravels the nexus between war and child soldiers’ vulnerability in Amani’s
River just as it is in Uzodinma Iweala’s Beast of No Nation. In Amani’s River, the reader discovers
the detrimental effect of war and how it affects children who are the most vulnerable group.
Through the characters of Aderito and Victoria, the writer exposes the experiences of child soldiers
and how these experiences affect their lives, particularly Victoria who experiences abuse daily even
before her death. The conditions the child soldiers are exposed to, the effects of such experiences
and the coping strategies employed by these child soldiers are discussed in the following sections.

Factor Responsible for Child Labour in Amani’s River

War is the singular factor responsible for child labour in David Hartness’ Amani’s River. This is
exemplified through the character of the major child labour victims.

War

In this novel, the major factor responsible for child labour is war. Child soldering is listed as “one of
the worst forms of child labor” in the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action
for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor Convention (182). The conflicts usually
have a strong impact on the societies in which they take place. The family structure becomes
weakened. Many small children and women flee the conflict areas, while the older children,
particularly boys, may try to survive on their own (Andvig et al 18). In Amani’s River, Aderito and
Victoria are the principal child labour victims. They are abducted by rebels from their village to
soldiers’ camp where they are recruited and forced to learn the ways of trained killers in a war they
barely understand. The war became so intense that many villages were ravaged and many families
torn apart. During conflicts, military organizations usually find children useful partly because of
technological and children’s characteristics as revealed in the case of Aderito and Victoria who
become recruits.

The abduction and employment of children as soldiers is a form of exploitative labour that is
tantamount to slavery. Children, especially boys are taken from their families and recruited as child
soldiers, some of these children usually witness the death of their loved ones while some others are
forced to pull the trigger themselves. Aderito, who is raised in an ideal environment and a stable
home, had his ethics and social values transformed by the devastating experience of being a child
soldier. He did the unthinkable just to survive the harsh realities of life that confront him at the
camp. During wars, trafficked children who are forced into becoming child soldiers are usually at
the receiving end. The brutality of a child soldier’s life experiences can make even innocent
children become professional killers. Children are easy to intimidate because they take orders better
than adults and are less aware of their rights. They are usually looking for adults for guidance and
care. For instance, Aderito and Victoria have to kill and do ridiculous things to survive as revealed
in the words of Aderito who says “Because our best hope to live, to see adulthood, is to fight for the
commander and to make sure that we do everything the commander asks.”(106).

Children recruited into war have no choice but to obey orders and commit atrocities or die
themselves. The more people they kill, the better they are accepted by their commanders and peers
as seen in Aderito’s case. The conversation that ensued between Aderito and Victoria attests to this
fact “The adults have forced you to kill, to be an animal, and you have a soft spot for this” “When I
am out there on the battlefront, I am honored to fight for them.”(107). Their malleable minds are
brainwashed by the commanders thereby making them do ridiculous things. Child soldiers like
Aderito and Victoria become conditioned to war, and begin to see killing as everyday routine as
eating, drinking and sleeping.

Aderito and Victoria are trafficked children who are deprived of the most basic human rights and
prevented from having an all-round smooth physical, mental, moral, social and spiritual
development in healthy and normal conditions of freedom and dignity.

Forms of Child Labour in Amani’s River

Children Used for Armed Forces (Aderito and Victoria)
The prevalent use of children in armed combat is a contemporary manifestation of slavery and a
form of human trafficking that is as serious and as lucrative as the international crimes of trafficking
in weapons and drugs (Tiefenbrun 417). Children used for armed forces are combatants or support
workers in armed conflict, whether by government or rebel forces. Many children who are recruited
as child soldiers are often abducted from their homes, tortured and indoctrinated with brutality,
forced to become intoxicated with mind altering drugs, threatened with death as seen in the case of
Aderito and Victoria who were kidnapped from their homes at Homoine by rebels and recruited as
child soldiers. Aderito narrates their ordeals in an abortive attempt to avoid being kidnapped, he
recounts:

As we lay, trembling in the tall dead grass, a footstep crept closer. I

didn’t want to look. Lying with my head lowered, I hoped the
impression was off in the distance and prayed that whoever this person
was, he came in peace. Someone was staring at me, so I closed my eyes,
hoping that the elongated stare went away. Without notice, a sharp kick
dug in my side. The sharp pain intensified as a large boot hit my rib with
extreme force. I curled my body and gasped for air. I panted, and just
when the pain dispersed, a second blow to the same spot landed even
harder on my rib cage…As I lay there, panting, I heard Victoria let out a
loud scream as the man hoisted her to her feet. The man gave a hard slap
to her face as she fell back to her knees, weeping as she rubbed the
stinging tender flesh. (71)

Children recruited as child soldiers are usually at the mercy of the adult soldiers who usually
employ different strategies to make the child labour victims dance to their tunes. These child
labour victims are subjected daily to dehumanizing atrocities which harden their heart, making
them fearless. To remain alive, the recruits must learn how to be real soldiers by killing, maiming
and engaging in all sort of vices. Aderito, to survive and remain the favourite of the commander
who he sees as a father figure after a long detachment from his family, learns how to handle a gun.
At first, it was like a dream but after several attempts, he no longer feels any remorse for his
wrongdoing. An example of this is evident in Aderito’s words. He declares:
It was my third attempt, my eyes became darker, and a demon consumed
my body. I ran up to the dummy and hit it hard with the butt of the gun
and then let out a massive scream as I turned my gun around and stabbed
the dummy hard in the gut. This was done with such a force that the
wooden support beam broke near the bottom, and the dummy toppled to
the ground, bouncing first before resting…I let out one mighty scream as
if I were a monstrous maniac ready to kill. The surrounding instructors
clapped as if I had just performed a miracle…I hated what I had become
because I felt a wish to battle and beat people. This wish to hurt
someone was a new feeling in which I wasn’t sure how to handle. I
didn’t know who I wanted to hurt, but I wanted an avenue to let my
anger flow. (79)

From the passage, it can be deduced that Aderito’s actions align with what Freud calls the id. The id
works based on what Freud calls the ‘pleasurable principle’. Aderito’s actions and eagerness to
inflict pain on both young and old is driven by the id which overrides the superego the ego and the
superego. Child soldiers like Aderito are usually brainwashed thoroughly and brutally to the point
that their ethics and moral values become so distorted that they believe doing evil is good. Aderito
is deceived into thinking the commander is after his wellbeing as the commander usually commends
him whenever he kills or exhibits any form of violence. The commander commends him: “What
you did today was impressive. I think you will be an outstanding fighter and will make me proud”
(79). Due to the commander’s extreme happiness in Aderito’s ability, he gives him mind altering
drugs that make him forget his ordeals and every atrocity committed. Aderito recounts the
incidence:
You know, I have something for you.” He reached over, grabbed the
base of my chair, and pulled it toward him. The commander reached for
my hand, took out a large tan rubber tube, and tied it just above my
elbow. “This will help you forget about what happened yesterday.”…He
pressed the syringe, which released the substance into my bloodstream.
Within a few seconds, I became relaxed, my body slouched further into
the chair, and my head rested on the back. My eyes rolled upward,
showing the whites, and I twitched several times as the substance took
control of my body. The sensation filled my desire, my worries escaped
my thoughts, and my mind and body felt free from any terrible thing that
might have happened. (80)

Aderito and other child soldiers are also forced to become intoxicated with mind altering drugs that
make them forget the atrocities they have committed or are about to commit. Drugs such as cocaine
and marijuana are often given to these child soldiers to alleviate their fears and enhance their
capacity in battle. However, the use of drugs usually inhibits a child’s ability to have all-round
development in a healthy and normal manner and conditions of freedom and dignity. These children
who are trained to become fearless end up becoming dangerous killing machines who are to be
avoided like plagues. Anyone seeing them in action is naturally stunned into disbelief and is likely
to wonder why these children kill, maim and dismember as seen in the reaction of the traitor who is
held captive by the rebels:
Two men pulled out a man from behind the wall. The man struggled as
they dragged him, kicking and screaming…He was a skinny man, with a
full beard. The bound hands were tied tight behind his back. He was
sweating as he gazed at the young children, who looked as rugged as
soldiers did yet innocent as children. (82)

Aderito, regularly under the influence of drugs becomes fearless and daring. Unlike the other child
soldiers, he distinguishes himself, making himself the commander’s favourite and to maintain his
status, displays his manliness by killing with a real hand pistol. He testifies to this:
 Aderito has proven that he is a man and is ready to show his loyalty. I
rose to my feet and stood next to the commander, who gave me a real
hand pistol. I looked at the gun…I still remembered my father and
mother, but the drugs and the beatings were slowing making them a
distant recollection. The soldiers, who were a new and stronger family
who took care of me, were the thoughts that lingered on my mind.
Walking toward the man, I held the gun toward his head and paused. My
head raised as I looked toward the commander, who nodded, signaling
for me to continue…Mixed with emotions, I felt the moral to do was to
spare his life and give him back his democracy and freedom. However,
the thing expected of me was to show my manhood and kill him for his
sins. I couldn’t contemplate right from wrong, and so I closed my eyes
and pulled the trigger. (83)

Aderito’s actions agree with Freud’s description of id as largely irrational, emotional and hidden. It
operates unrestrained with little consideration of dire consequences of actions. While Aderito
knows that the moral thing to do is to spare lives and shun evil, in order to impress the commander
he lets out the irrational and hidden part of him. Aderito couldn’t balance the urge and desire to do
the right thing against the wrong, therefore he ends up doing as revealed in his words. The superego
according to Freud which reinforces ego’s balancing act by providing a sense of guilt occurs in the
conscience of the wrongdoer. This is a reminder about the punishment/condemnation for breaking
socially acceptable rules and norms which has become docile inside Aderito. He confirms this:

I was standing in shock as I had done it, killed a man, and now I was
part of this movement. My emotions torn between the morals of
childhood lessons and the evil that appeared. The devil inside said that
this was the right thing to do while the nobility was telling me to run.
The demon was taking over, and the voice inside my head teaching me
right from wrong was getting quieter. (83)

Aderito and other child soldiers are brainwashed by desensitizing them to the sight and commission
of atrocities. These child soldiers usually see the commander and other soldiers as part of their new
family members and therefore give them the respect due to them. Aderito’s superego comes to play
when Aderito feels the urge to defy the commander’s instructions but this is overruled by the id,
therefore, making him adhere to the commander’s instructions. Aderito seeing the commander as
his new father, proposes not to defy his command. An instance is seen in the novel when he
executes the commander’s instructions after a little brainstorming. Aderito narrates:
 The commander gave me a machete. I looked at this weapon, pondering
careful deed. He took the gun from my hand and whispered in my ear,
“Now cut his head off, like the animal he was.”…There was an idea to
defy him, but the wish to be a good son dictated the actions I took on
that day. I raised the machete into the air and reviewed the decision that
was inevitable, and I let the rage enter my body and then struck hard on
the neck of the bloodied man. Blood spurted out, spraying my face. I
kneeled in the blood that covered the concrete. I looked over at my
comrades who wore the same shocked face…I threw the machete to the
ground listening to the hushed clanking sound of the weapon hit the
blood next to the headless man. I grabbed the head with both hands and
held it over mine…A strange satisfaction overcame me. I looked into the
eyes of the other soldiers who cheered. I pumped the head into several
more times as if it were my first trophy, before dropping it to the ground.
(85)

Aderito and other child labourers are victims of inhumane brainwashing and merciless combat
training that make them obey orders to kill innocent victims, just to stay alive. They are forced to
participate in acts of extreme violence and barbarity, including beheadings, amputations, rape, and
the burning of people alive. Aderito kills, maims and beheads as instructed to stay alive and to look
macho in front of the commander and other comrades. Child soldiers are not only to kill but are
required sometimes to eat human flesh which according to the commander is meant to protect them
from their enemies and part of their training as soldiers:
…Today, we will cut up this body and feed you for dinner. This will
protect you from FRELIMO troops, the commander said to the crowd of
young children. No one even questioned him. We agreed that this must
be the best action, not because it was logical but because the commander
had said it, he must know what he was doing…Victoria came back a few
minutes later, bringing a bowl of stew, with a distinctive human flesh
that was to be given to the child soldiers. (85-86)

Aderito and other child soldiers are made to witness and perpetuate violence that should not be
experienced by adults. The negative experiences of Aderito in the camp of rebels continue as he is
bent on proving himself as a man and noble warrior to everyone in the camp, especially the
commander and the other comrades. He commits more atrocities which kill his emotions and harden
his heart. Even Aderito becomes afraid of the person he has become but he is not thinking right:
I felt like a man holding a gun, dressed in military attire, but appearing
as an innocent boy ready to step outside into the real world and enter the
life of a criminal. My clothes were too big, and my gun was difficult to
hold. My face wore the ideals of a child, but I didn’t dare think the
thoughts as the man inside did not wish to hear the innocent thoughts of
a boy. (90-91)
Child soldiers are also made to witness the death of their close relatives either by force or choice.
This kind of scenario if witnessed by a young child usually traumatizes them. An instance of this is
seen in the case of Aderito who witnesses the violent death of his father by the commander of the
camp where Aderito trained as a child soldier. Aderito’s father in order to protect him from the
hands of the rebels after his escape from the camp tries to negotiate with the commander. Aderito
narrates the incidence in the following words:
That is the commander. They are probably coming back to find me,” I
said as I started to shake and pace back and forth, frantic at their
presence. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t find the strength to blink. I
paced up and down the corridor, trying to escape from the threat, but
realized that there was nowhere to go… “You guys should stay here. I
will go talk with them,” my father said as he walked toward the door…I
watched my father walk bravely toward the commander with his hands
stretched out, signaling his wish for peaceful talks. (191-192)

Children who witness the death of loved ones are prone to experiencing trauma. Witnessing his
father’s death is a traumatizing experience for Aderito. This is seen in his recollection of the event.
He recalls the violent incident which causes his father’s death:
The commander turned his back toward my father and then turned
around with his fists clenched tight together. With extreme force, his fist
landed on my father’s stomach. His body lunged forward. His mouth
widened, and he gasped for breath. The commander grabbed my father’s
chin and raised his head, then landed a hard left hook to his face. My
father flew backward, and blood flew from his mouth. He landed on his
knees with his face in the dirt and his buttocks sticking in the air. (192)

Aderito’s vivid description of his father’s excruciating pain and death as he struggles with the
commander and other soldiers is made bare in his words:
The commander lifted his right foot and placed it on his mouth. He dug
deep, pressing hard until he had pried open his mouth. He continued to
dig into his mouth, stuffing his boot further down the throat. The
commander bit his lip hard as he tried to put strength into his act of
brutality…The commander left briefly and went to the truck. He grabbed
a gas canister and walked over my father. He raised the canister over my
father’s head and began to pour…The entire canister emptied on my
father, and now he sat covered with gas, wincing in pain and shaking at
the thought of what might happen next…The commander was standing
just to the right. My father was on knees, shaking…As he did this, the
commander lit the match and dropped it toward my father’s head…He
screamed. His hands planted on the ground… He winced but held on
strong for a while; then flames suddenly covered his face… (195-196)
This singular incident breaks Aderito’s spirit as he has to deal with the trauma for a long time.
Aderito’s reaction to this event is what Caruth described as “the response to an unexpected or
overwhelming violent event or events that are not fully grasped as they occur…” Aderito describes
his inability to fully comprehend the magnitude of what he has just witnessed by asserting that:
I ran away and into my room. I jumped on my bed, face first, and then
covered my eyes with my hand. My chest rapidly rose and fell, and my
heart pounded…Tears covered my bare hand. I tried to yell, but when I
opened my mouth, gasps of air came out…I tried to talk to God, but I
felt that he had left me a long time ago. I breathed sporadically in and
out; my stomach was shaking, and one tear after the other came from my
eyes…My eyes turned red, and breathing increased to the point that I
was hyperventilating…Perhaps it was God who stopped them, or the
commander knew that the brutal torture of my father left me weakened.
Moreover, the little brittle boy was of no use to the commander. Perhaps
he gained satisfaction, knowing that he destroyed my life and I would
live in the depths of hell, desperately trying to claw and dig my way out
to find some ounce of triumph in my bleak life. (197-198)

From the foregoing, it can be deduced that Aderito suffers a series of emotional and psychological
trauma. Amani, Aderito’s father, pays for Aderito’s freedom with his life. After his father’s death,
Aderito’s experiences trauma as a result of the negative experiences he had as a child soldier.

Domestic Child Servant (Victoria)

Victoria, a ten-year-old girl who was abducted along with Aderito becomes a domestic servant in
the rebel’s camp. Girls who are abducted and used as domestic servants are abused badly, enslaved
especially because they are not permitted to leave or return home to the comfort of their family.
Abducted girls usually have a slim chance of becoming child soldiers as their male counterparts but
instead, are used as domestic servants or sex objects. Victoria’s role is assigned to her after her
arrival to the camp. The commander instructs the other soldiers about Victoria’s responsibility as he
says:
The commander looked at Victoria and said, The girl will be a servant.
She will not be fighting with the boys. Take her away and make her do
womanly work.” (77)

Based on the excerpt, one observes that girls unlike boys are used as cooks and sex slaves by
soldiers, and may be forced to engage in combat and indirect hostilities as well. These children are
usually exposed to injuries and death, even if they survive, they will forever bear the traces of the
physical and psychological violence they suffered during their captivity. At the camp, Victoria
though a domestic servant also faces sexual exploitations and physical assaults from soldiers. The
narrator goes on to depict how Victoria faces sexual and physical abuses. He narrates:

I looked up as Victoria was being dragged by Zeilo. She was kicking,

screaming, and yelling for me to help. They entered a room that was
vacant and shut the door…I walked toward the casement. Zelio had
pinned her to the bed. Victoria shook, trying to avoid his kisses. He
punched her hard several times in the face. This stunned and calmed her.
Zelio kissed her neck hard and then worked his way to her navel… He
took her shirt as she struggled more. He slapped her across the face…
(146-147)

As it can be inferred from the extract, Victoria is abused physically and sexually by Zeilo, one of
the soldiers in the camp who thinks that girls are bitches and should be used as such. He says
“Tough. You didn’t use her like a man. Consider that a lesson. That is how you use your bitches.”
(147). Girls used as domestic servants in the soldiers’ camp are usually at the receiving end of
abuse.

Experiences of Child Labour Victims in AR

The novel explores the life of children who are forcefully used for armed forces. These children are
usually deprived of a meaningful childhood as seen in the case of Aderito and Victoria. Children
whose villages are ravaged by war usually go through trauma because of the violence they have
been exposed to. The arrival of the rebels often put the community in chaos and the inhabitants in
great distress as seen in Aderito’s words in the subsequent excerpt:
Happiness escaped, and fear entered. The peacefulness of the day’s
event passed, and the harsh reality of the world away from the river
came flooding in, and I could think of nothing else but the dark sounds
of the guns ringing throughout the valley and the fear the people must
have felt. (41)

Aderito and Victoria with other unnamed child victims are kidnapped from their homes where their
lives are almost perfect. They are recruited by rebels as child soldiers. At the camp, the child labour
victims are confronted with negative experiences which make them fearful of what the future holds
for them. When they arrive at the camp, Aderito and Victoria meet with other children of their age
who have also been kidnapped by the rebels. These children are forced to witness atrocities and
sometimes to perpetuate violence. Many of them end up being depressed due to the negative
experiences they encounter. They usually encounter inhumane treatment from the soldiers and more
often than not, are deprived of good food. These children who need good and quality food for their
physical and psychological growth and development are often denied the all round development
they need. This is seen in the personal experience of Aderito who confirms the different
experiences. He narrates:
The children did as we were told. The heavyset man with a fat neck
approached the children, stopped in front of each child in the line, and
placed one scoop of beans in our hands. I waited as he made his way in
front of me. He plopped the beans into my hand, which were so hot that
my hands burned, but I didn’t dare drop them because this might be my
only meal during the day. My head lowered, and started to eat the food
out of my hands as if I were less than human as if I were a criminal or a
pig eating out of the trough. Still, none of this mattered. I was so hungry
that I devoured the beans, trying to be careful that few landed on the
raised cement porch. (77)

Child soldiers, though given scanty food that can hardly satisfy them, are required to work like
adults and real soldiers. The girl soldiers among them who are usually in the minority are made
domestic servants unlike their male counterparts who are trained to fight. This is seen in the case of
Victoria. She becomes a domestic servant as a result of the commander’s instruction: “The girl will
be a servant. She will not be fighting with the boys. Take her away and make her do womanly
work.” (77). Victoria’s dreadful experiences start the night of her arrival as she experiences physical
and sexual assaults from one of the soldiers as seen in Aderito’s narration of the incident. He
describes:
I watched as the man led Victoria over to a small room across from
where we were staying…The light was on, and Victoria was pushed into
the room, landing hard on the thin springy bed…Reaching toward
Victoria, he grabbed the ratty, torn shirt and tried to lift it up and over
her body. She resisted and pulled away but he reacted and landed
multiple hard blows toward her face…The man grabbed her shirt and
pulled it off, followed by the shorts and underwear until she was feeble.
I heard her wail and then reach towards him, trying to make him stop,
but he struck her face and continued. Victoria said nothing and did
nothing but lay insensibly, waiting for the rape to stop. It lasted five
minutes, but in those five minutes, she became a broken woman. (74-75)

The American Psychological Association’s definition of trauma as the emotional response someone
has to an extremely negative event synchronizes with Victoria’s response to the sexual abuses she
goes through. While trauma is a normal reaction to a horrible event, the effects can be so severe that
they interfere with the individual’s ability to have a normal life. This definition agrees with the
reaction of Victoria to the physical and sexual assaults she goes through in the hands of the soldiers.
After being raped by different men at the camp, Victoria becomes accustomed to the assault as seen
through her passivity:
Nearly every day, she was raped by a different man. This was becoming
a normal thing, and it was rare that she resisted. Victoria became passive
in her willingness to lie down and take and take the abuse and too tired
to fight. Victoria tried to pull away from the men, who would land swift
and violent slaps or pummels to the head. This, of course, led to the
bruises around her otherwise soft face. (81)

Many young girls like Victoria who have experienced rape at one point in time in their lives are
usually embittered due to the negative experience which traumatizes them every day of their lives.
Victoria, a victim of child labour at the age of ten is enslaved, raped by soldiers and victimized daily.
She is considered as less than human by the commander of the camp. The narrator affirms that:
The commander demanded that she served him, treating her more like a
dog and less than a servant. The commander never had intercourse with
his animal, so he never touched her. (81)

Girl soldiers though usually in the minority unlike their male counterparts regularly encounter
serious abuse including rape, enslavement, forced pregnancy and victimization. This is true in the
case of Victoria who is a victim of rape and sexual abuse in the camp. Rape is a common event
during the war and many young girls have been defiled by irresponsible soldiers who only use them
to satisfy their burning sexual desires. Though girl soldiers are ordinarily made to do womanly
work, sometimes if need be, they are also required to fight alongside their male counterparts.
Victoria is not left behind in perpetuating violence and witnessing it as she is given a gun to fight
the so-called enemies of RENAMO. For the first time in Victoria’s life, she is handles a real gun as
seen in the extract:
You, a soldier said, pointing toward Victoria, “take a gun.” He handed a
large AK-47 to Victoria with a bayonet attached to the end…Victoria
was scared because she had never used a gun before, but now they
forced her to be a soldier and learn to fight. I took a deep breath and then
turned to Victoria. We sighed in unison and started to run straight into
the action as if we were nefarious psychopaths ready to kill…The first
kill brought the demon into Victoria as the next several were easy. She
feared for her life, and the fear forced her to kill or be the one lying in
the thick mud, dead. Her hands didn’t shake, and she didn’t fear the
moral or ethical repercussions. She did as every cold, lifeless soldier
would do: kill the enemy. (112-116)
A psychoanalytical reading of the excerpt reveals that Victoria’s id comes to life after she is made to
handle a real gun. “She did as every cold, lifeless soldier would do: kill the enemy” (116). As a
result of many challenges, demands and pressure of survival in the soldiers’ camp, Victoria’s id
psyche becomes too strong for the superego to put under control. Therefore, Victoria’s id overrides
her actions without putting into cognizance the moral or ethical repercussion of her actions. Aderito
and Victoria who are decent families become killers and inflictors of pain both to the young ones,
old ones and everyone that is considered an enemy. These children are also forced to burn the dead
bodies of those who are considered their enemies. They usually find joy in doing this. This is
revealed in the excerpt:

The bodies were thrown on the pile with the rest of the victims and soon
drenched in gasoline and lit on fire. The smell of burning flesh lingered
in the air. Black smoke rose to the sky, and I watched as lifeless bodies
burned in a cultural ritual to show the victory that we fought to
achieve… Each member of our group grabbed a beer, popped it open,
and chugged it, as our eyes were content on watching the fire. (124)
Children are the most vulnerable group during socio-political upheavals as evident in the
experiences of Aderito, Victoria and other child soldiers who are caught up in war-torn
Mozambique. The abduction and employment of children as soldiers is a form of exploitative
labour that is tantamount to slavery. Child soldering is listed as “one of the worst forms of child
labour” in the Convention concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of
the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 182).

Effects of Child Labour Experiences on Child Labour Victims in Amani’s River

Child labour has a far-reaching effect on the behavioural pattern and emotions of identified child
labour victims. The effects of child labour experiences identified in the novel are premature
adulthood, psychological trauma and death.

Premature Adulthood

Aderito and Victoria and other child soldiers due to their exposure to violence at an early stage of
their lives, are forced to act like adults and witness things that only adults should witness. In order
to impress the commander and other soldiers, Aderito learns how to kill as confirmed by the
commander who says “Aderito has proven that he is a man and is ready to show us his
loyalty.”(82). The innocence which Aderito takes to the camp is rid off him as he has been trained
to become a beast. The adults made him do terrible things which should not be done or experienced
by children. Before Aderito’s indoctrination as a child soldier, his actions were regulated by the ego
and superego but after his arrival at the camp, the excesses of the id overtake both his ego and
superego. Aderito confirms this:

An older man saw that I was a child and tried to stop me. He yelled
several times, but I was unaware of his attempt. The old man tried to
scold me as if I were his son, but what he didn’t know was that my new
father praised me for my actions…I approached the man, and when I
was a few inches from the stick, I flipped the gun and knocked his hand
hard, forcing him to release the cane back to the ground…”Why does an
innocent boy look and act so evil?” he said as a single tear rolled from
his lower eyelid, shaken by the sight of me. “I look at your face, and I
see such sweetness, but there is something about you that shows
destruction. Why, my son? What did they do to you?. (99)

Aderito becomes accustomed to the way of life of the brutal soldiers due to the negative experiences
he is exposed to while at the camp. Aderito, who used to have a good and decent upbringing before
his arrival at the camp no longer has any conscience and regrets for killing as affirmed by Victoria
who tries to talk some sense into Aderito. This is affirmed in the conversation that ensued between
Victoria and Aderito:

The adults have made you do terrible things, but somewhere, that
sweet boy whom I first met is still there… Someday you will
remember how to feel, how to cry and understand morals again.”…I
began to cry, which turned into a flowing stream of tears. This was
the first time I remembered crying. I pictured the men and children
whom I learned to beat and kill…I am not sure that I should be called
a boy again; my childhood had long since passed, and I was a man
who killed and, for a strange sick reason, enjoyed the brutality of my
actions. (108)

Psychological Trauma

Herman in her insightful book Trauma and Recovery: From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror,
argues that psychological trauma means bearing witness to horrible events (7). Further, she argues
that it is morally impossible to remain neutral and that bystanders are forced to take sides.
Similarly, Knapp argues that experiencing the world through the eyes of suffering children, we
cannot but feel guilty about the world we have created (13). Aderito experiences depression and is
traumatized as a child soldier in the camp of the rebels. He is nostalgic of the experiences he had
before his arrival at the camp and the thoughts of leaving his parents and home behind depress
him. What follows this episode is a series of emotional and psychological trauma that Aderito
suffers which Caruth describes as “repeated flashbacks, nightmares, and other repetitive
phenomena”. Aderito recounts here that:

Many nights since being crowned a man and hailed by my peers as a

strong and noble warrior I spent alone in the darkness, weeping under
the thin blanket, feeling nothing but an inner child escaping the darkness
of the man. I longed for the days spent by the river and wished they
could come back to me and allow the youthful behavior to flood and
show through the darkened and closing walls...The walls depressed me,
but there wasn’t a single person that could help through the depressed
state.”(90)

Victoria is also confronted with negative experiences in the camp and these experiences affect her
psyche and self-image. While at the camp, she faces assaults and rape from soldiers who are old
enough to be her father. Also, becoming a mother at a tender age without the wherewithal to take
care of the child contributes to Victoria’s traumatic experience at the camp. Victoria’s childbearing
was hard since she is still in her prime as revealed in the complications she had while giving birth.
Aderito narrates that:

I went to Victoria and dropped to my knees at her side, grabbing a towel

on the floor and wiping her forehead clean. I grabbed her hand and
kneeled on the ground, wiping more sweat from her head. Sweat
drenched her clothes and softened her hair…She pushed hard and
gripped my hand. It felt as if she were trying to break me as she
squeezed harder with every push and contraction. My face winced in
pain, and my body tightened as I tried to resist the bone-crushing
trauma. She got tired, let go, and rested, panting stiffly. (151)

Another instance of Victoria’s experience of trauma is depicted when she was raped again after the
birth of her baby. She recounts her ordeal to Aderito when she says:

I was raped again. They threw my baby aside. She began to weep and
cry into her hands. They raped me in front of my baby, she said with her
mouth opened wide as the words screeched out, echoing through the
small room. The sounds of the words were deep and hurting to her. Her
chin shook, and her head and neck lowered, shrinking into her shoulders,
which moved, as she couldn’t stop crying. She gripped her shirt tight
and tugged it, trying to rip the tattered rags out of a fit of rage. (160)
Aderito who is also traumatized gives various illustrations of flashbacks of the life he lived before
his freedom. Throughout his stay in Homoine, Aderito’s actions fit into the symptoms of PTSD
which appear in the form of hallucinations, nightmares and flashbacks. He says:

When I slept, images flashed through my head that brought the past,
crashing me back into reality. Images of Victoria being shot, the old
man begging for his life before being killed, and men, women,
children dying because of my actions. Everything I saw or
remembered made me cry. It felt as if I couldn’t stop. I once tried not
showing emotions or crying out of fear of the ramifications of my
actions. Now I couldn’t stop, even when comforted. (186)

It can be deduced from the extract that Aderito’s bottled emotions unfold through tears as a result
of his guilt feelings and regrets. Also, this phase in Aderito’s life is described by Caruth as
traumatic memory (an event too immediate for the conscious to record, but as images coming
belatedly and repeatedly). (Felman 8). As revealed in the novel, the traumatic memory appears as
nightmares, flashbacks and guilt feelings that impede Aderito’s emotional stability which takes him
a long time to recover from. Aderito also suffers from another psychological trauma after he
witnesses the brutal killing of his father by the commander of the camp where he served as a child
soldier. Aderito witnessed the burning to death of his helpless father who confronted the
commander in order to save him. This is evident in Aderito’s long narration of the traumatic
experience of witnessing his father’s death:

I rushed back to the casement. The commander was standing just to the
right. My father was on his knees, shaking. He dialed in, looked through
the window , and saw a few eyes looking back…As he did this, the
commander lit the match and dropped it toward my father’s head…The
flames grew longer, and the match appeared to land on my dad’s head.
Flames spread from his head all the way to his ankles…He kept
screaming as the flames cut through his flesh and headed down toward
his bones. He fell to the ground and rolled several times, took one last
scream-and then silence. The body lay on the ground, continuing to burn
the flesh, bones, and clothes…Soldiers continued fueling the flames with
more firewood, intent on creating ashes of my father. (197)

Death

While at the camp, Victoria is confronted with negative and unpleasant experiences well beyond
her age. In order to escape the unpalatable situation, she devises a way to escape but this fails
terribly, leading to her death. The commander-in-chief of the camp instructs Aderito to kill Victoria
after her failed attempt to escape. Victoria and her baby were killed the same day. Aderito’s
narration of Victoria’s ordeal is very intense:

Victoria looked up at me. Fear was in her eyes. She was a weakened
woman…Her soul was dead, and it had been for a long time. She had
lived in hell, seen it for far too many years, and sensed she was ready to
die. Do it. Save my life from this hell…I held the gun toward her head
and looked into her eyes…I placed my hand on the trigger- and pulled it.
The bullet pierced through her brain, and she stopped beating life. The
men holding her arms let go, and her limp body fell into mine. I dropped
the gun and held her close, rocking back and forth. I lowered my head
into her bloodied face. My tears flowed as I cried loudly for the entire
group to see because I didn’t care that they were looking at me, so I kept
crying, and I couldn’t stop. I hated the monster inside of me, feeling that
I was weak and not able to protect her. (170)

Aderito’s first hand witness of Victoria’s death and that of her baby continues to haunt him daily.
This emotion usually comes in form of flashbacks and hallucinations which is in line with Caruth’s
description of the symptoms of psychic shock or PTSD as seen as Aderito relives his memory about
his childhood with Victoria. He narrates:

I found my way back to the river…As I looked at the river, memories of

Victoria playing and jumping in the water, of seeing her the first time,
and of her kissing me on the lips came flooding into my mind. I
remembered her innocence which I loved. A lump in my throat formed,
but I did not cry. I continued to smile as the sights and the memories
flooded my thoughts, and I remembered the safety and
tranquility…Lowering my head, I closed my eyes and wished that when
they opened, she sat beside me. I am not sure if it was magic, a ghost, or
a wishful thought; but when I opened my eyes and looked to my right,
she sat there. Her hair puffed up and blew in the breeze. She had a large
smile, her skin was free of bruises, and her eyes had no darkness. She
was innocent again. (187)

Coping and Survival Strategy in Amani’s River

The coping and survival strategies refer to the cognitive and behavioural strategies that child labour
victims employ to manage traumatic and stressful experiences. Obedience is the only dominant
coping strategy identified in the novel.
Obedience

In order to survive in the camp, Aderito, Victoria and other child soldiers are forced to obey the
orders of the commander and other soldiers in the camp. Aderito says “I felt as if I belonged to
them, and they needed me. If they asked, I couldn’t deny their wishes, and I would carry out any
illegal act (81). Aderito sees the commander as a father figure so he usually does everything he is
told to make the commander happy even if it is illegal. After being serially abused sexually,
Victoria becomes passive to the nightmarish experience as she no longer feels any need to disobey
the soldiers who have made it a norm to sexually abuse her. The narrator sheds light on this:

Nearly everyday, she was raped by a different man. This was becoming
a normal thing, and it was rare that she resisted. Victoria became passive
in her willingness to lie down and take the abuse and too tired to fight.
(81)

Anyone who defies the commands of the commander usually pays dearly with their lives as seen in
the case of Victoria. While attempting to escape from the soldier’s camp, Victoria is caught and
given a death penalty, ending her life and the life of her baby. Child soldiers who are defiant and
assertive do not usually make it far as their lives are usually terminated abruptly. Another instance
of obedience is seen when Aderito follows the commander’s orders to kill Victoria after her attempt
to escape from the camp proved abortive. Aderito recounts the ordeal:

The bitch must be punished, and you are going to do the punishing
…after all, she is your bitch, and you didn’t keep a close eye on
her…The commander looked toward the crowd and shouted, “Aderito
will punish this girl. I sentence her to death.” He said this, hoping to get
a cheer and a reaction from the crowd, but he got nothing… The
commander came toward me and handed me a pistol that he carried in
his pocket. My shaking hand reached for it and held it tight…As I
walked towards her until I was only a few feet away and held the gun to
her head...I thought of turning the gun on the commander, but then
everyone would kill me and then Victoria, and I would have
accomplished nothing…My knees were quaking, and my heart
pounding. I wanted to cry and scream at the barbaric act, yet I was a
coward that said nothing and made no stance toward the greater justice.
(169-170)

Aderito could not defy the commander’s orders because disobeying the orders equals death. As
revealed in the excerpt, Aderito had to kill Victoria even though he feels like turning the pistol
towards the commander of the camp. Victoria’s death reveals that once a soldier becomes a
liability, he or she can be killed. Aderito reiterates this when he says:

I didn’t know how to kill another person. At the same time, If I didn’t,
they would kill me. The commander said it himself that I was an
exemplary soldier, and that is why he spared my life and Victoria
wasn’t. What might happen if I became expendable? I have come to
know that once a soldier becomes a liability, he is discarded as if a rotten
piece of meat. The soldiers cost money. He needs to feed them and
house them, and if they aren’t living up to the expectations set by the
commander, he would just as soon kill them as pay for them to eat. (174)

Conclusion

The study further concludes that through the literary representations of child labour experiences of
relevant child labourers, the novels effectively raise awareness about the plights of children that are
victims of child labour and educate readers especially children on the safety measures to take if they
become victims of child labour. As such, the study selected children between the ages of 6-14 and
how the development and mental stability of these children can shape societies and generations to
come. The novels, therefore, stimulate the readers’ consciousness and attempt to dissuade child
labour in society.

Recommendations
It is recommended that literary artists and playwrights should refocus attention on issues concerning
child labour victims by using victims to tell their own stories. More studies should be conducted on
the effects of child labour experiences especially from the victims' points of view. Also, it is hereby
recommended that literary artists should display more diverse coping and survival strategies that
can be employed by children who become child labourers.
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