Project in Sierra Leone
When the Kigali project was almost finished,/Seya heard about a DDR project/which was in progress in Sierra Leone. She decided to go there/in order to observe the actual DDR process/with her own eyes,/but she faced challenges. Could she find people/who understood the local situation/and knew in detail what the problems were? If not,/how could she ever dream of working as a specialist/in conflict resolution? Seya was undaunted. She made contacts/and was able to visit camps for war victims/as well as a care center for former child soldiers. She even had an interview/with one of the top leaders of the DDR projects.
Having finished her graduate work in 2001,/she was back again in Sierra Leone/in January 2002. This time/she was not a visitor but a UN volunteer;/her mission was to facilitate the reintegration of ex-soldiers into society/by providing them with job training. Working together with a team of 15 staff members/from various countries,/Seya gradually developed her expertise in DDR.
After a ceasefire,/there is still much work to be done. Soldiers may be thrown into the streets with no jobs,/no houses to live in,/and no money to support their families. There is always a risk/that ex-soldiers will return to armed conflict. They must be able to return to society/and lead productive lives. This is reintegration.
From 2003 to 2005,/Seya was in Afghanistan with the DDR team,/which disarmed 63,380 soldiers/and collected more than 12,000 heavy weapons/and almost 58,000 small arms.