Childhood is especially perishable in war.
In the past 10 years, in much of the developing world, children have endured losses far out of proportion to their years and strength, of family and community members, of time to grow and learn, of the sense of hope. Santino has been a soldier since he was 12 years old. Now, at the age of 16, he has been demobilized and sent to school. Our village in southern Sudan was raided five times by government-backed militias. I am very happy about that.