The act of sharing stories is a prominent tradition in the African culture, as they serve as both an entertaining pastime and a tool in which knowledge may be passed on through the generations.

“Wherever you go in Africa, you always hear stories,” said 22-year-old Michel Chikwanine, a former child soldier who is now a motivational speaker for Me To We, a group focused on teaching young people how to make positive changes around the world. “I have my own story.”

K'Naan

Chikwanine visited George Brown College students on Feb. 18 in the St. James student lounge and shared fragments of his traumatic past growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Appreciate what you have because you never know when you’ll lose it,” he said, recounting how at the age of five he and his friends were captured by rebel soldiers while playing a game of soccer.

Shortly after his abduction, he was blindfolded, handed a gun, and told to pull the trigger. Upon removing the blindfold, Chikwanine realized he had killed his best friend, Kevin.

Thus began a horrific chain of events, which included witnessing the torture of his father, a human rights activist, and the rape of his mother and sisters.

“Sometimes it’s hard to keep re-telling [my] story,” admits Chikwanine, who talks about his past four to six times a week in hopes informing people of serious global issues. “There are times when I get flashbacks of things and if I told my story in full, we’d go for five hours. The things that I don’t tell are hard to tell.”

The soft-spoken Chikwanine spoke of not only the bad side of Africa, but the good side as well.

He looks to his now deceased father as a role model and symbol of the many things Africa has to offer the world, which includes welcoming people, nature, and a unique culture.

Despite Africa’s beauty, Chikwanine said he came to know the second part of Africa very well, and it is for this reason that he raises awareness on Africa’s lack of clean drinking water, poverty, violence, and war on a daily basis.

During his speeches, he encourages audiences to work together to raise money to build schools in those parts of the world that are afflicted with such poor living conditions.

“Education is really the only way to get out of poverty. If you get an education, you get a job, and if you get a job you get a little bit of money to support your family.”

Chikwanine takes peace and conflict studies, in addition to international development studies at the University of Toronto, and he eventually hopes to become a professor on the topic.

“Because I had the experiences, I can teach as well as [tell] my experiences to other people to raise awareness.”

By Laura Cicchirillo