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Emmanuel Jal [1980-0]

Rank: 101
Musician

Emmanuel Jal is a South Sudanese-Canadian musician, actor, former child soldier, and political activist. His autobiography, War Child: A Child Soldier's Story, was published in 2009.

Chance, Communication, Dreams, Education, Peace, Respect

Quote	Tags	Rank
I'm still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.	Peace	101
A lot of child soldiers lose their minds.		102
I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.	Chance	103
If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.	Dreams	104
When you see a Sudanese walking on the street, there is a story.		105
Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.		106
What I always wanted to do when I was a kid was to speak out and help people which I continue to do afterwards.		107
There's no pride in having been a child soldier.		108
Music - it's the only thing that can enter your system, your mind, your heart, without your permission.		109
Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.	Communication	110
When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy.		111
I'm kind of weird - I don't get excited. Sometimes I fake that I'm excited just to make people happy.		112
When you don't educate the people, you're crippling them. You are, you're not giving them ways to survive.		113
I would advise dancers, musicians and others in the entertainment industry to take up yoga, as it clears the mind and creates a sense of balance and stillness which is important for any performing artist.		114
I don't know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.	Education	115
Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.	Respect	116
In Africa, you know, if you're poor, at least you can go to the forest and share some mangoes with the gorillas and monkey.		117
When I was in south Sudan, people used to rap in my village. But the rapping was more in the mother tongue, Nuer.		118
I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. 'Emmanuel, don't forget about us, don't give up, keep telling our story.'		119
I lost my childhood. I didn't play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.		120
As a child, I didn't know what they mean by 'to die.' So I grew up in a place where people used to die all the time, but a child is not allowed to see a dead body. When you ask, 'Where is so-and so?' you're told, 'He's gone to another world where we all go to live in the future.'		121
We lack role models who can inspire our young people to make change.		122
Violence in Darfur is cataclysmic.		123
A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don't really feel anything for anyone.		124
The only foreign policy advice I heard from China was when they said to Sudan, 'Don't go back to war.' That's all they said. They didn't push anything else.		125
Knife crime and gun crime is poverty-driven, and poverty leads to insecurity.		126
I'm constantly seen as a 'foreigner,' and I need my passport to prove my identity, to keep moving and to carry on my work.		201
When I listen to hip-hop, it's like no big difference how people sing in my village, 'cause bling would be their cow.		202
I don't take modern hip-hop as real. It's entertaining, it's fake, like James Bond.		203
Young people are so brave when they go to fight.		204
When I first went to school, I was fighting all the time. The soldier mentality was still in me. I kept getting expelled. I found it hard to take instructions from anyone who wasn't a military commander.		205
In times of war, starvation, hunger and injustice, such tragedy can only be put aside if you allow yourself to be uplifted through music, film and dance.		206
The first time I experienced war, I thought the world was ending.		207
War destroys people's souls. Most people focus on physical injuries, but the invisible injuries can take a lifetime to heal and affects the lives of generations to come.		208
Education is the only solution for peace.		209
If you really kill, you don't want to talk about it.		210
Rap music is amazing, it's beautiful. But the problem is the lyrics. The person who writes the lyrics - that's the problem.		211
I was shocked when I came to New Orleans. I never knew there were beggars on the streets here. I didn't know that there were poor people. I thought this was Heaven, you know?		212
What music does to me, it helps me balance my inner pressure so that I can deal with the forces outside that are trying to pressure me.		213
I'm rapping in English but in an African way. I'm not trying to sound like an American.		214
For many Sudanese, it's for strength they choose to be Christian rather than Muslim. My mum was a Muslim but she became a Christian later.		215
Music moves my emotions because music loosens me up.		216
In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.		217
I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.		218
The wealthiest Sudanese don't know what war is. Their children are safe in school.		219

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