Every surviving war child has two stories: one from the war and one from its aftermath.

• Author: Filipovic, Zlata
• Position: Essay

By ZLATA FILIPOVIC, on behalf of the members of the Network of Young People Affected by War (NYPAW):

Ishmael Beah (www.beahfound.org) born in Sierra Leone is the author of A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Child Soldier. He lives in the USA.

Kon Kelei (www.cmsf.nl) born in Southern Sudan is a spokesperson for War Child Holland. He lives in the Netherlands.

Grace Akallo, born in northern Uganda is the co-author of Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda's Children. She lives in the USA.

Shena A. Gacu (www.chinakeitetsi.info) formerly called China Keitetsi, was born in Uganda and is the author of Child Soldier: Fighting for my Life. She currently lives in Denmark.

Zlata Filipovic, born in Sarajevo, Bosnia is the author of Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo. She lives in Ireland and works on documentary films.

Emmanuel Jal (www.emmanueljal.org) born in Sudan, is a hip hop singer and founder of Gua Africa, dedicated to educating children affected by war and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. He lives in the UK.

I remember trying to write a book report when I heard the first gunshots of my life; sounds that no child, anywhere in the world, should ever hear. I tried hard to concentrate on my homework assignment, worried what the teacher might say the next day. That was the last book report I did for almost two years of my life during the conflict in Bosnia.

My school in Sarajevo was bombed and closed, and in place of the literature classroom wall was an enormous hole from a bomb blast. I left some neatly written essays in the cupboard that was blown apart. I never knew what happened to my teacher--I never saw her again.

We know what emergencies are: we have felt them on our skin, they crept into our lives, blew them away, sliced them, fragmented them. They stole our innocence, humanity, childhood, families. In all of our cases, conflicts stole one of our basic rights as children and young people--the right to education. That was the first thing that went when the horrors began. The closure of schools was a sign that something was very wrong.

One day our pens were dropped, notebooks abandoned, benches deserted. Rooms that were once covered with our drawings, lingering with giggles and passed notes became empty. The fear of being called up to the board to solve a math problem and the excitement of discovering the magic of writing were gone. Learning how to play, how to pull a pen across paper and how to leave a permanent mark in...