In the sky there are always answers and explanations for everything: every pain, every suffering, joy and confusion.

My squad is my family, my gun is my provider, and protector, and my rule is to kill or be killed.

We all find joy and radiance and a reason to move on even in the most dire of circumstances. Even in chaos and madness, theres still a beauty that comes from just the vibrancy of another human spirit.

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.

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

ONE OF THE UNSETTLING THINGS about my journey, mentally, physically, and emotionally, was that I wasn’t sure when or where it was going to end.

This is one of the consequences of the civil war. People stop trusting each other, and every stranger becomes an enemy.