Rewarding best reporting from the developing world

Why children take up arms to guard their villages

In remote grazing lands on the Kenya-Ethiopia border, a boy aged just twelve carries a loaded Kalashnikov rifle to guard his family’s herd of goats from invading militia. The boy’s father had been killed in a militia attack several years ago.

“Before my father died, he taught me how to use the gun,” says Lorunye Emekwe. Now he teaches other village boys to load and shoot the AK47. But his real dream is to return to school and finish his formal education.

Soldiering on

The video report featuring Kenyan children who take up arms to protect their villages won a Thomson Foundation award for Kenyan TV producer and reporter Maurice Oniang’o, who works for the agency Media Development in Africa. Maurice was chosen as Young Journalist from the Developing World at the Foreign Press Awards in London in November 2014.

The winning video also features Loyiane Ekai, 14, who survived a gunfight when militia tried to steal his family fishing nets. “I have never gone to school,” he said. “I am just a fisherman. If I go to school, who will fend for my family?”

“Many homes are left without fathers in these border villages,” says Maurice. “So the boys become breadwinners – and warlords in the making.”

Maurice won the Young Journalist award in 2014 with a portfolio of stories which included a film on child soldiers who guard their village from Ethiopian raiders

I feel humbled by this experience. It has made me more determined to produce stories about Kenya.

The final three

The other two finalists in the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist award were Andrew Ochieng, a news reporter for NTV in Kenya, and Priyanka Dubey, a freelance journalist from India who submitted stories on women drug traffickers, the gang rape of a policewoman and the abduction of two young girls who were raped and murdered. 

Young Journalist Award

Submissions for the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist Award take place each year. Visit the Young Journalist section to learn more about the award and how to apply.

Child soldiers

Watch Maurice’s video report featuring Kenyan children who take up arms to protect their villages.