why do wars happen?

War is more likely to happen when some groups within a country or region don’t have equal rights or representation. If people have very little, there is more incentive to fight for resources or land. If the government of a poor country is unable to deliver basic services like healthcare, housing and employment, its people have more reasons to feel resentful. This can then boil over into armed uprisings.

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innocent victims

In modern conflicts, 90 percent of victims are ordinary people, not soldiers. Women and children are particularly vulnerable. Conflict tears communities apart, destroying homes, health systems and schools. Even when conflict ends, the rehabilitation of a community may be slow. Recovery from the trauma of conflict is often long and painful, while unexploded landmines may leave vast areas unsafe for years.

People may be forced to flee their homes, leaving behind all their possessions. These people become refugees or displaced people within their own country. Often they end up in overcrowded camps where disease and illness spread quickly. In fact, during conflicts more people die from malnutrition or disease than die directly from the fighting.

Children are especially affected by conflict and often suffer trauma. Ongoing wars can disrupt their education for years at a time. As adults, they are less likely to get well-paid jobs and are more likely to be poor. Children may become orphaned by war or separated from their families while fleeing a conflict. Sometimes they are conscripted as soldiers, or abducted and forced to fight.

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building peace

Peace is not just the absence of conflict. It also means having healthy communities where people can recover from past hurts. It requires people who can solve disagreements without violence.

World Vision and other aid organisations work with communities around the world on peace-building activities. For example, they run rehabilitation programmes in countries affected by war.

People who are affected by conflict are given support to overcome their trauma. They are helped to accept and come to terms with what has happened so that they can begin to build a new life.

Grace was abducted by rebel forces in Uganda when she was just 15 years old. She was given to a man to be his fourth wife. Later she was sent to war with a gun and her new baby strapped to her back. After almost three years in captivity, she escaped. She met government soldiers who took her to a World Vision centre for former child soldiers.Since then, Grace has received counselling and has been reunited with her parents. She has gone back to school and completed a tailoring course.

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working together

Conflict can have a long-term effect on families and communities – even after the war is over and peace has been restored.

Maid Ikanovic is seven years old and lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian War lasted from 1992 to 1995 and it ended before Maid was born. But the war still overshadows his life. Maid’s dad, Senad, stepped on a landmine during the war and lost part of his leg. He was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after the war, and he has since struggled with depression.

So many people lost limbs because of landmines in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that there is a real shortage of artificial limbs. Senad didn’t have enough money to be able to afford an artificial leg. However, World Vision assisted by providing some artificial limbs, and Senad was fitted with one. "It helped a lot,” says Senad. “Before I couldn't walk without someone's help. I'd just lie there thinking about the things I couldn't change."

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looking forward

Maid is overjoyed that his father can walk again. He adores his father and they have forged a strong relationship by working together to build their family home.

"I want to help my father with the house. I’ll do anything but especially the concrete," says Maid. He also loves to shovel the gravel.

Senad says his son is his right hand, helping around the house. There is a special Bosnian word for such close co-operation. It is moba, which literally means working together, but conveys much more. Maid is proud he can describe his work with his father in these terms. Both feel more hopeful about the future.

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