Being forced to kill his best friend. That's how Michel Chikwanine lost his innocence when he was only five years old.

Born in 1988, Chikwanine grew up in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and was kidnapped by rebel soldiers in his hometown of Beni, in eastern Congo near the Ugandan border.

From there, the rebels rubbed a mixture of cocaine and gun powder into an open wound, the first step in attempting to turn him into a child soldier. He then had an AK-47 shoved into his hands, a blindfold put over his eyes, and was then forced to fire the weapon blindly.

When the blind fold was removed, he discovered he had shot and killed his best friend, Kevin. "You killed your best friend, now you can never go home!” the rebel soldiers shouted at him.

That's how Chikwanine's story began. From there, he was able to escape the rebel army after a few weeks and return to his family, forever changed and scarred by his experience.

His father would die in Chikwanine's arms when he was 12, and he was also forced at gun point to watch his mother and two older sisters being raped at the hands of rebel soldiers.

Thankfully, he was able to secure passage for him, his mother and younger sister to Canada, where they started a new life in Ottawa in 2004.

Now, Chikwanine attends the University of Toronto where he is taking African Studies, and lives along with his mother, sisters, and multiple nieces and nephews.

It wasn’t until four years ago, when he heard Marc Kielburger, co-founder of Free the Children, speak about child soldiers in Sierra Leone that he found his calling.

He has since told his story to audiences across North America, sharing the stage with distinguished speakers such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Prime Minister Paul Martin, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Chikwanine was brought in as the keynote speaker to the Alberta Student Leadership Conference at Lacombe Composite High School on Monday, to share his inspirational story.

 

Chikwanine talks about what he hopes the students took away from his speech, which has a lot to do with some of the things his father told him.

"I think in our world today, we need a lot more empathy. And secondly, leaders are not these amazing people that are somehow born and somehow they are leaders, leaders can be anyone. It can be anyone just choosing to take a stand, to stand up and speak out, to stand up really. That's what I hope truly they took from it. He (his father) said 'Great men and great women throughout history have never been described by their money nor their success, but rather by their heart and what they do for others' ".

 

Chikwanine is also an accomplished author, with his graphic novel, Child Soldier: When Boys and Girls are Used in War, which is based on his experiences, available now.

The LCHS's last day of the Alberta Student Leadership Conference is tomorrow, with the keynote speaker being retired curler Cheryl Bernard, who won silver at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

She will be speaking in the main gym at 11:15am.