A TEENAGER who fled his home country in fear of his life after he was orphaned in violence that wiped out his entire village is campaigning to promote better understanding of asylum seekers.

Abdulkareem Musa Adams, now 16 and who now lives in Swindon, was forced to leave Sudan, the only place he had ever known, at the age of seven following the bloodshed which claimed the lives of his parents and sisters.

Finally granted a safe haven in the UK eight years later, Abdul is working with Fixers, the national movement of young people ‘fixing’ the future, to share his tragic story.

From a cattle herding family in Sudan – a country ravaged by war – Abdul managed to escape the bloodshed that destroyed his rural village in the Darfur region with his younger brother because they had been making a trip a short distance away.

“One day troops came to my village,” he said.

“When the attack first began all we could see were helicopters because we were on the outskirts, then we saw people on horseback riding into the village and then flames coming out of the houses, and we could hear the sound of guns and bombs. The village was wiped out. I climbed up a tree and hid.

“From that point onwards I feel like I have been on the run, for years now I have been trying to get away from trouble.”

Spending the majority of his childhood in refugee camps, on the street and in prison, it took Abdul eight years of travelling to find his safe haven in Swindon.

Running for their lives, it took the brothers three days to walk from Sudan to Chad immediately after their village was attacked.

They were helped by a male and female villager whose separate families had both been slaughtered in the attack.

The four of them spent 18 months in a Chad refugee camp, but they split up when they panicked after hearing a rumour that the government was going to send them back to Sudan.

There was only enough money for two of them to get to Libya, so Abdul and the man – who he saw as a father figure – fled there, while the woman and Abdul’s younger brother went deeper into Chad to hide.

The plan was for the woman and Abdul’s brother to follow them on to Libya later – but they never saw them again.

Spending three years in Libya, Abdul was separated from the man when they were both imprisoned.

Abdul was sent to jail for refusing to join the army as a child soldier and he was beaten there on a daily basis.

During one attack, he received head injuries and was hospitalised.

Managing to run away from the hospital, Abdul lived in a factory where the owner let him stay.

He then fled to Egypt where he was picked up by the Red Cross. He spent more time in Benghazi and Tripoli before getting on a boat to France, where he lived in dustbins.

Abdul arrived in the UK in September 2012 after climbing on to the underside of a truck not knowing its destination.

He has had several foster placements since he arrived, but has been living with foster carer Ira Muir in Swindon for three months.

Granted leave to remain in the UK, he goes to the town’s Harbour Project – which provides support to refugees and asylum seekers – every day and also attends college.

He now conducts daily searches on Skype and Facebook to try to locate people in Chad, Libya and Sudan who can help him to look for his brother.

“I am still haunted by this past, even now I have sleepless nights,” said Abdul.

“But the main thing is that I am no longer hearing the sound of guns. All I can hear now is birds singing first thing in the morning, and that makes me really happy.”

Fixers is a charity which supports young people across the UK to take action and change things for the better, addressing any issue they feel strongly about.

With Fixers, Abdul is planning to make a short advert detailing his journey and to explain why people like him seek asylum.

Abdul hopes the advert will be used by Social Services and the Harbour Project, which has offered him great support.

“I joined Fixers to send a message to young people especially, that they need to be aware of conflicts abroad and the suffering they create, and that they need to help the people affected,” said Abdul.

A report about Abdul’s campaign will feature on ITV News West Country tonight from 6pm.