Former child soldier Michel Chikwanine, who witnessed unspeakable horrors in the Great War of Africa, will speak Tuesday, March 23

Former child soldier Michel Chikwanine, who witnessed unspeakable horrors inflicted upon his family and countrymen in the Great War of Africa, will speak Tuesday, March 23, at 7 p.m. in Blackwell Auditorium. The appearance by Chikwanine, now a motivational speaker, is an African Awareness Program.

Kidnapped by guerrillas at age five while playing soccer, Chikwanine, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was tortured, forced to shoot and kill his best friend, and watch as his mother and sisters were raped and his father was tortured and killed in a war that claimed 3.8 million lives before officially ending in 2003. After hiding out in Uganda for five years, Chikwanine fled to Ottawa, Canada, in 2004 with his mother and younger sister.