“We are no longer at war with each other, but we still have difficulty living together.”

Kpadah was 14 years old when, in 1996, violence broke out in Monrovia. “I was at home with my family. We heard the sound of machine guns: the rebels were there. In the urgency of the flight, we all ran in different directions,” he recalls. Kpadah’s parents and siblings waited for an end to the fighting before coming back home, one after the other. His nine-year-old brother Kolleh did not return.

The following year, Kpadah joined Talking Drums Studio’s team as a drummer and dancer for live performances. The troupe traveled across a country ravaged by war to spread messages of peace, unity, and hope.

The sound of Kpadah’s drums would draw crowds outside of their homes in the rural villages. Then, the theatre team would begin the play. "Spectators were invited to participate in the drama and become "spec-actors". They provided solutions to the problems described in the play and experienced in their community. And there, before our eyes, we could see people transform. Participatory theatre is a powerful tool for these communities, which are often illiterate and have no access to information," says Kpadah.

One morning, the team drove for six hours trip to reach a refugee camp. As usual, Kpadah played his drums, and people started gathering. This time, he saw a familiar face in the crowd.

“My little brother was there! He had been missing for three years. We all thought he was dead. He was traumatized by the war. Those years growing up far from us had profoundly changed him,” he says.

The two brothers returned to Monrovia together, and Kolleh joined the Talking Drums Studio family.“ TDS gave him a second chance. It has transformed so many lives, including ours,” Kpadah says.

Kpadah’s music has been broadcast on Talking Drum Studio for almost two decades now. Over the years, TDS’ messages have evolved with the needs of the Liberian population and beyond. “At the end of the war, we went to the refugee camps in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast. We were telling our fellow citizens to come back, that peace had finally returned to Liberia,” he says.

This renewed peace does not mark the end of TDS’ mission. According to Kpadah, many lives remain to be changed, many stories still need to be told. “We are no longer at war with each other, but we still have difficulty living together. The love for our country and our fellow citizens has not yet returned,” he says. The civil war has left deep scars. Drug abuse, particularly among former combatants, has skyrocketed. “I want us to be able to reach them and tell them that they too can change and have a better life” Kpadah adds.

Kpadah also wants TDS’s work to keep focusing on young people. “Right after our performances on education, people go to register their children to school. Every time we go back to a community, we can witness its transformation. However, changing society is not a one-day job; it’s a continuous process. The more people hear us, the more chance Liberia will have to progress.”