On the 8th of July 2011, Playwright/Director Tommy Lexen will travel down to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the armed conflict, often refereed to as ‘Africa’s World War’, still is claiming thousand of lives every day and over 30 000 children are used as Child Soldiers. Help us to tell their stories!

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"I am currently in the first phase of creating the play ‘Like Enemies Of The State’, a play that will unravel a compelling insight to some of the destructive madness that daily effects many men, women and children in one of the world’s deadliest wars. To be able to write and recreate this story, I will, accompanied by my Human Rights Adviser Katarina Reigo, travel down to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in July 2011, to carry out intensive research and begin to write the play on location. Since the DRC is considered one the world's currently most dangerous places, we have established partnerships with local and international NGO’s, who will assist in the planning of the trip, share their experience and help to arrange the security for the domestic travels.

Voices of experience

Our journey will begin in the state capital Kinshasa, where we will spend a few days trying to integrate in the society and meet up with local organisations, officials, and theatre practitioners. With your help we can then travel further east to Goma (North Kivu) where the armed conflict is still ongoing and where many refugees and disarmed child soldiers are situated. Our aim is to talk and listen to the people affected by the conflict living and working in Goma as well as government officials, NGO-workers and civil monitors from UN's MONUSCO outposts. We wish to include as many different parties and perspective as possible in our research to create a deeper understanding of the current situation as well as inspire and generate authentic background material for the play I am working on.

Breaking the silence

The play ‘Like Enemies of the State’ is originally inspired by the story behind the Falling Whistles-Campaign (www.fallingwhistles.com), written by the American traveller Sean Carasso during his journey through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Carosso are working to raise the awareness of the “Whistleblowers” – a term for the youngest boys (called ‘Kadago’), who not old enough to carry a gun, that instead are sent as humans shields to the front lines of the war, by some rebel groups, armed with only a whistle to distract their opponents. His story got me engaged in this subject and made me take action to find a way of letting these young voices be heard.

“Even if you don’t have a gun, you must go and take part in the fighting by making noise” were the words of a commander to his child soldiers -Amnesty International ('Breaking God’s Commands.')

Kadago - ‘Little ones with weapons’

From our own extensive research, recorded eyewitness encounters and onsite field studies in the DRC, ‘Like Enemies of the State’ will tell the stories of former child soldiers, some of who have been tortured, trained to kill and finally treated like enemies of the state. These stories will be based on first and second hand accounts, written or told by people direct or indirect involved in the conflict. It will deal with subjects as witchcraft, ancestry, sexual abuse and blood vengeance.

The final play will be a fictitious story with many complex and dynamic characters based on authentic source material and references. It will be a perspective on the ongoing, armed conflict in the DRC as well as revealing some of the many social problems that have affected millions of men, women and children.

"When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia. He was just 17 and he said no; they shot him in the head. Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do - I didn't want to die." -A former child soldier taken when he was 13. (BBC Report)

Awareness cause action

Through the medium of theatre, my aim is to raise the awareness of the many children in DRC that everyday struggle to survive in the front lines of the war. With this play I want to reach an audience that otherwise would not relate to, or be affected by, the ongoing conflict in DRC and the use of young children as armed combatants. Whilst there is still much to be done, this might serve as a starting point. With your help we can make it happen!"

//Tommy Lexen

Brief background

The war in DRC is the deadliest and largest ongoing war in the world. It is estimated that over 6 million people have died during the last decade and still, approximately 1 500 people lose their lives everyday. Serious human rights violations is happening on a daily basis and about 1 200 rapes is committed every month. More then 30 000 children in all ages have been demobilized from Congo’s battlefields since 1999 and several thousands of children are still being used as combatants, porters and sex slaves.