Emmanuel Jal was only seven years old when he was taken from his family home to become a child soldier with the rebel army in Sudan’s bloody civil war for nearly five years. Beaten, starved and brutalised Emmanuel was put into battle in Ethiopia and southern Sudan carrying an AK-47 talller than himself. He attempted to leave the SPLA but was hunted down and thrown into a desert prison.

He finally escaped and is now an internationally-acclaimed hip hop artist spreading messages of peace and reconciliation with his unique style of gospel rap.