Award for Child Soldiers site 25 April 2003

A website has been honoured for its role in helping former child soldiers in Sierra Leone recover from their ordeal.

Childsoldiers.org has won a Cable and Wireless Childnet Award, which recognises the best websites for children from all over the world.

The Sierra Leonean site allows former child solders to talk about their experiences through writings, drawing or music, as well as exchange e-mails with other teens from around the world.

"This is not the most sophisticated website we have looked at but what could be more important than saving children from being used as instruments of war," said one of the judges, Larry Magid, technology consultant with CBS News.

Cathartic site

The site was set up by International Education and Resource Network (iEarn) non-profit group in Sierra Leone, together with its sister body in Canada.

Since 1999, it has provided an outlet for children who were caught up in Sierra Leone's bloody civil war.

During the 10-year conflict, at least 5,000 children, some as young as 10, were forced to take up arms.

The UN estimates there are more than 300,000 children in government armies, rebel forces and guerrilla groups in more than 30 countries.

For some in Sierra Leone, the site has provided a way of tackling the ghosts of the past.

"It is cathartic," explained Andrew Greene, national co-ordinator of the site. "It gives them a feeling of redress from the war years and these children are the future leaders of tomorrow."

Aside from anything, the project has helped the children feel that they are not alone in their suffering.

"It helps the children who have been affected by war to come together, to socialise and use the technology," Mr Greene told the BBC programme Go Digital.

"Through the sharing of ideas with their peers across the world, they feel they are not alone anymore."

'Dot hope effect'

Getting the site off the ground was not easy. Initially iEarn had to rely on internet cafes until a UK charity donated some recycled computers.

Four years later, the group has widened its ambitions, setting up a programme to heal the wounds of the civil war.

Through its peace and reconciliation programme, iEarn aims to teach children about technology and promote civil harmony.

"Technology needs to be for the good," said Mr Magid. "It's what we call the dot hope effect."

"There's a lot of talk of dot.coms, boom and bust, and money. But the promise of the internet is to bring people together."

The Childnet Awards have been running for six years. They aim to recognise the different ways that children work with the internet.