One Voice, One Thousand Children - Part 1

Produced and edited by Scott Thode, Vll The Magazine In association with Human Rights Watch and the Pulitzer Center. Recently the Obama administration continued military aid to four countries known for their use of Child Soldiers, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Yemen and Southern Sudan by issuing a waiver to the Child Soldiers Prevention Act. In a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Obama said he had determined that the waiver was in "the national interest."

"One Voice One Thousand Children" is a two part series by Marcus Bleasdale. The first part investigates child soldiers and the second part investigates the young girls who are conscripted, raped and forced into marriage by army commanders. The two distinct single voices narrate us through their personal experiences but they represent thousands of children who have had similar experiences.

This is Part One: Child Soldiers.