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When I was a kid, I had to fight for everything.

Though I was not a belligerent kid, I do not think I ever passed up a good opportunity to fight.

I was born in 1954. My parents were brought up in the war years, and life was hard.

I was one of those children forced into fighting at the age of 13, in my country Sierra Leone, a war that claimed the lives of my mother, father and two brothers. I know too well the emotional, psychological and physical burden that comes with being exposed to violence as a child or at any age for that matter.

No, I had a back injury early on in my life.

I wasn't a fighting kid or a causing-trouble kid. I was just one of those cheeky, crazy kids running around.

For a long time I felt like I was fighting my age, like I was constantly trying to prove to people that I was a savvy peer, and I felt them viewing me as a kid. I was a cocky kid, and I felt like I was an adult at, like, 9, you know? I think that's because my parents always treated me as an adult.

When I was younger, I was a bit of a feisty fighter type of guy. That's something my father told me as I was becoming a man: 'You don't go picking fights, but you don't run from any of them.' And I was more afraid of my father than anybody else I had to fight.

I was very troubled, yes. Me and my brother both - we were troubled and troublemakers.