Forgiveness and Reintegration: How the transformative process of forgiveness impacts child soldier reintegration

Forgiveness, essential for all healthy human relations, becomes all the more critical when speaking of good reintegration for child soldiers. Children were both victims and perpetrators of horrendous crimes during Sierra Leone’s ten-year civil war that ended in 2002. Many former child soldiers sought to reintegrate with their families and communities, though receptiveness on the part of families and communities was essential in order for this process to be successful. This book examines forgiveness and reintegration from psychological, theological, philosophical, and anthropological perspectives and asks if forgiveness can contribute to and facilitate reintegration for former child soldiers. Despite the magnitude of atrocities they have experienced, Sierra Leone’s people have demonstrated that indeed, the transformative process of forgiveness has enabled them to live in forgiving ways for more than thirteen years.