He was kidnapped twice by Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front, but the Rev. Victor Mosele says he still wants to go back to the African nation to help in its reconstruction.

“I pray for them to send me back. I hope they do,” Mosele said.

Mosele tonight will show the movie “Rob-bed Childhood” at the St. Lawrence Catholic Center, 1631 Crescent Road, and speak about his experience with child soldiers.

He said he wanted to open eyes to what happened during Sierra Leone’s atrocious civil war and show people how they can help.

After escaping his last kidnapping, Mosele was assigned to minister at colleges and universities in the U.S. Midwest.

“I came here to wait for things to settle,” he said. “My superiors decided I should stay behind.”

The Xaverian missionary has visited 27 campuses so far and plans to keep spreading the word until he can go back to Sierra Leone to help rebuild the country where he lived for 30 years.

During those three decades, Mosele helped build schools and churches. He ran a vocational school and 15 churches.

“All that has been destroyed by the rebels, including the only Poliomyelitis rehabilitation center in the country,” Mosele said.

He also was in charge of 33 grade schools with 6,000 children and one secondary school with 800.

Many of these children were later abducted by the rebels and forced to commit horrendous crimes.

“Imagine a young boy killing, gouging people’s eyes,” Mosele said.

He said it was difficult to bring hope to these children after they’ve seen so much.

“Some refuse to talk,” he said. “Others have nightmares.”

The devastation caused by the decadelong civil war, which started in 1991, has left the country in ruins, he said.

In 2001 the rebel army surrendered its weapons after pressure from United Nations and British forces. In 2002, elections were held and the rebels failed to win a single seat.

Mosele said he regretted the United States’ lack of involvement in the war.

“Unfortunately, the U.S. has never been very prominent in helping African missions,” he said. “With the new administration, it’s more dismal.”

Mosele said he would keep spreading the word about the horrors of war until he got a call to go back to Sierra Leone.

“My mission calls me whether it’s dangerous or not. have a higher purpose.”