They gave us drugs. They cut my skin and with a razor, put the cocaine inside, and put a plaster [Band-Aid] on top. It gave me the will to fight.

We have a hot temper. We appear in a town, we raid. When someone moves, I just shoot. Anyone who moves, I drop him. I am shooting my enemy...When I kill, I loot. I take anything he has. That way we could have good food to eat.

AUDIENCE READER: I am Gloria from Colombia. I joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces when I was eleven. They held a court and found [a girl presumed to be a spy] guilty. They ordered me to lead her away and shoot her, and, at first, I hesitated but then I did it. To [the guerrillas] it was a proof of my loyalty, but to me it didn't prove anything.

STAGE READER #4: Both on the battlefield and off, children in the military experience severe physical abuse.

AUDIENCE READER: I was a child soldier in Myanmar in Southeast Asia. Sometimes I fell asleep when I was on guard duty, I was beaten by my corporal. He beat me like a dog, like I was an animal, not a human being. There were two or three suicides during that time, of boys who had been hospitalised and finally shot themselves.

AUDIENCE READER: My name is Emilio. I was recruited to fight in at the age of 14. When I testified to the US Congress, I told them:

The army was a nightmare. We suffered greatly from the cruel treatment we received. We were constantly beaten, mostly for no reason at all, just to keep us in a state of terror. I still have a scar on my lip and sharp pains in my stomach from being brutally kicked by the older soldiers. The food was scarce, and they made us walk with heavy loads, much too heavy for our small bodies. They forced me to learn how to fight the enemy, in a war that I didn't understand why it was being fought.

AUDIENCE READER: I am Odur Leko. I was kidnapped by the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda when I was only 8 years old. At the camp, we were trained to use guns. Those who disobeyed had their ears and fingers cut off. I didn't want to participate in the killing, but they threatened to shoot me if I refused to do it.

AUDIENCE READER: I'm David from Sierra Leone. The Revolutionary United Front kidnapped me when I 10. I had to go through the training and learn to fight, otherwise the RUF people would beat me or kill me.

STAGE READER #2: Most girls who are recruited or captured experience sexual abuse as well, often being forced to become sexual partners for adult soldiers.

AUDIENCE READER: This is B from Uganda again. After we were kidnapped, we were taken across the border into Sudan. There [t]he Commander gave us "husbands," except for the young ones, those below 13. But from 13 onwards, we were all given as wives. There was no marriage ceremony. But if you refuse, you are killed.

AUDIENCE READER: I am Concy Abanya. Just like B, I was kidnapped in Uganda by the Lord's Resistance army and, like B, I was forced to become a soldier's "wife". In Sudan, we were distributed to men and I was given a man who had just killed his woman...I was not given a gun, but I helped in the abductions and grabbing of food from villagers. Girls who refused to become LRA wives were killed in front of us as a warning to the rest of us.