When people know you've been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy.

- Emmanuel Jal

What music does to me, it helps me balance my inner pressure so that I can deal with the forces outside that are trying to pressure me.

- Emmanuel Jal

Violence in Darfur is cataclysmic.

- Emmanuel Jal

I would advise dancers, musicians and others in the entertainment industry to take up yoga, as it clears the mind and creates a sense of balance and stillness which is important for any performing artist.

- Emmanuel Jal

In Africa, you know, if you're poor, at least you can go to the forest and share some mangoes with the gorillas and monkey.

- Emmanuel Jal

Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.

- Emmanuel Jal

I don't know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.

- Emmanuel Jal

When I was in south Sudan, people used to rap in my village. But the rapping was more in the mother tongue, Nuer.

- Emmanuel Jal

I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. 'Emmanuel, don't forget about us, don't give up, keep telling our story.'

- Emmanuel Jal

Music - it's the only thing that can enter your system, your mind, your heart, without your permission.

- Emmanuel Jal

When you don't educate the people, you're crippling them. You are, you're not giving them ways to survive.

- Emmanuel Jal

A lot of child soldiers lose their minds.

- Emmanuel Jal

Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.

- Emmanuel Jal

There's no pride in having been a child soldier.

- Emmanuel Jal

I'm kind of weird - I don't get excited. Sometimes I fake that I'm excited just to make people happy.

- Emmanuel Jal

What I always wanted to do when I was a kid was to speak out and help people which I continue to do afterwards.

- Emmanuel Jal

If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I'm firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.

- Emmanuel Jal

Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.

- Emmanuel Jal

I'm still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.

- Emmanuel Jal

I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.

- Emmanuel Jal