Emmanuel Jal Online

As a 9-year-old, Emmanuel Jal carried weapons hundreds of miles across Sudan as a child warrior in the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Today, his music -- an eclectic mixture of African, Gospel, rap, and R&B -- carries a message of hope thousands of miles across Africa and around the world.

Plucked from the SPLA and saved from certain death by Emma McCune, a British aid worker, Jal was enrolled in school and immediately proved to be a promising student. Although he had only five years of formal education behind him, Jal was accepted at the University of Westminster as an engineering student. Complications with his visa kept Jal from remaining in London, and he returned to Kenya, where his career as a musician took hold.

Since 2000, Jal has been using his musical talents to raise awareness about the "Campaign to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers." Jal has been invited to entertain crowds at a UN event in Switzerland and the Live 8 concert in Scotland, and he won the 2005 American Gospel Music Award for International Artist of the Year.