CONAKRY, 15 November 2007 (IRIN) - November 2007 (IRIN)

CONAKRY, At first it looks like a trendy haircut, but the shiny hairless strips across 12-year-old Nathaniel's head are scars from when a Liberian rebel attacked him with a knife.

He was about six months old when rebels invaded his village in Lofa County, Liberia. His mother, Hélène, wrapped his head and they fled, eventually making it to Guinea, where they have lived ever since.

Nathaniel is among a group of Liberian, Sierra Leonean and Ivorian men, women and children at a Conakry shelter for refugees needing medical treatment.

"I was transferred from Kouankan camp [in N'zérékoré, southeastern Guinea] to Conakry because of my head problem.

"I was wounded in the war by the rebels. Up to now, my head is not in good condition. Whenever we go to the hospital [here in Conakry] the doctors see my head, and they say they are not able to do anything.

"Always when I was in school in the camp, when I take a test, blood comes from my ears and my nose and my paper gets red.

"The teacher drove me from school. I'm not able to take the tests. Now I'm not able to continue my schooling and my head problem is continuing, giving me a hard time.

"I would like for people to please help me. Because I have this serious problem. I can be sitting sometimes, I'll faint and fall down and I'm not aware of anything. I don't know why.

"I can't go out in the daytime. Only after around 8pm. Whenever I get in the sun, blood comes from my nose and my ears. People don't like to see me at all, because I have bloodshed whenever I'm in the sun.

"There is pain. When I wake up I always start my day as someone who is about to die."

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