Aged only seven， Emmanuel Jal became a child soldier sent from Sudan to fight in Ethiopia's brutal war. Through a lot of luck and determination， he managed to turn his life around， becoming one of Africa's hottest music stars.
　　Born in Southern Sudan， he was a little boy when the civil war broke out. When he was about seven， his mother was killed by soldiers loyal to the government. He then decided to join the thousands of children traveling to Ethiopia who had been told that they could be educated there.
　　However， many of them were recruited by the SPLA and taken to military training camps in the bush in Ethiopia. "I didn't have a life as a child. In five years as a fighting boy， what was in my heart was to kill as many Muslims as possible."
　　Emmanuel spent several years fighting with the SPLA in Ethiopia and Sudan. "Many kids there were so bitter， they wanted to know what happened to them. And we all wanted revenge.”
　　When the fighting became unbearable Jal and some other children decided to run away. They were on the move for three months， many dying on the way， until they reached the town of Waat， where the course of Emmanuel's life was to change.
　　Here he met British aid worker Emma McCune， who smuggled him to Kenya where he began to attend school in Nairobi. But even that came with hardships as he lived for years in the slums.
　　Jal stumbled upon hip-hop and discovered the genre harboured incredible power， both spiritual and political. Emmanuel started singing to ease the pain of what he has experienced. With the encouragement of those around him， Jal became increasingly involved in music and formed several groups. His first single， "All We Need Is Jesus"， was a hit in Kenya and received airplay in the UK.
　　Through his music， Jal counts on the unity of the citizens to overcome ethnic and religious division and motivate the youth in Sudan. In his first album， Gua， his lyrics illustrate the desires of the Sudanese people to return to a peaceful， independent homeland
　　His next single， "War Child"， told his story through powerful lyrics； "I'm a war child / I believe I've survived for a reason / To tell my story， to touch lives."
　　His second album， Ceasefire， is a collaboration with the well known Sudanese Muslim musician Abd El Gadir Salim and brings together opposing sides of the conflict to a common ground of the wish for peace in Sudan. The collaboration represents a vision for the future， as two Sudanese men， a Christian and a Muslim， unify and pave the way to overcome differences peacefully. Ceasefire is not only the sound of two men collaborating on a musical project， but more symbolically， two halves of a divided nation learning to trust each other.
　　With his own personal experience in mind， Jal founded a charity Gua Africa. Besides building schools， the nonprofit provides scholarships for Sudanese war survivors in refugee camps， and sponsors education for children in the most deprived slum areas in Nairobi.
　　Jal believes so strongly in the necessity of education that he completed a 661-day 'Lose to Win' fast where he ate only one meal per day and raised the money for GUA-Africa to begin the construction primary school of in Leer.
　　埃马纽埃尔在只有7岁时便成为儿童兵，参加了苏丹人民解放军在埃塞俄比亚和苏丹的战斗。凭借决心和运气，他成功改变了生活，成为非洲最炙手可热的音乐巨星之一。埃马纽埃尔的亲身经历，促使他成立了一个慈善团体GUA-Africa，为生存在难民营的苏丹战争幸存者和内罗毕贫民窟地区的儿童提供教育机会。