This days one must be careful to avoid awakening the pain of another.

I am always quiet so that I know what to say when I must speak.

For many observers, a child who has known nothing but war, a child for whom the Kalashnikov is the only way to make a living and for whom the bush is the most welcoming community, is a child lost forever for peace and development. I contest this view. For the sake of these children, it is essential to prove that another life is possible.

This days one must be careful to avoid awakening the pain of another.

When I was young, my father used to say, ‘If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.’ I thought about these words during my journey, and they kept me moving even when I didn’t know where I was going. Those words became the vehicle that drove my spirit forward and made it stay alive.

My childhood had gone by without my knowing, and it seemed as if my heart had frozen.

Some nights the sky wept stars that quickly floated and disappeared into the darkness before our wishes could meet them.