Building Faith: From war to freedom
“The way I normally begin is simple,” explained Emmanuel Jal. “I have a three-minute way in which I tell my story in the form of a poem.” It may have been a poem, but even such an abridged version of Jal’s story was far from simple. A former Sudanese child soldier turned international hip-hop star, Jal addressed the Principia College campus on February 11th as one of this year’s speakers in the Vogel Moral Courage series, named for Lucha Noerager Vogel.
While broken up by moments of optimism and levity, Jal’s talk was not for the faint of heart. He spent ample time detailing his childhood as a warrior in the Sudanese civil war and the three months he and other child soldiers spent wandering through a desert after escaping the army.
Salvation came when Jal reached a village where he met Emma McCune, a British aid worker who adopted him and smuggled him to Kenya so he could attend school.
It was during the time spent in the desert that Jal remembers calling on God and feeling that his prayers were answered. In response to a student’s question about maintaining faith, Jal replied, “Along my journey I was able to try and test out God, and so my faith was built. When you call on those experiences where you feel like God has answered, that will build your faith.” When asked how he established his faith, Jal credited his mother: “I think for every kid, their parents play a big part. My mother planted the seed.”
Jal ended his presentation with a lively performance of “Emma,” a song he wrote as a tribute to the woman who saved him. He began the song only after giving the audience a brief lesson on how to bob your head to hip-hop music and then requesting that all listeners get on their feet.
Despite the sober nature of Jal’s experience, he exudes gratitude and calm. “When you forgive someone who has done you wrong, you are actually more free,” he told listeners. He has clearly taken that message to heart.
You can listen to Jal’s talk in its entirety here.
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