Global News Podcast The Global Story:How does war affect a child’s brain?
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Mar 22, 2026 
Fergal Keane, a veteran BBC war reporter, reflects on decades covering Rwanda, Gaza, Iraq and Ukraine. He explores how war shapes children’s minds and why Gaza renewed his focus on young survivors. He also connects his own childhood trauma, PTSD and alcoholism to the pull of conflict reporting, and looks at resilience, recovery and hope.
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Rwanda Showed How Propaganda Can Invert Morality
- Rwanda permanently altered Fergal Keane because he saw genocide executed by ordinary neighbours, not distant soldiers.
- He describes propaganda teaching people that killing Tutsi neighbours was morally right, then drove through empty landscapes filled with death and survivors' terror.
Gaza Revived A Pattern Of Child Trauma
- Fergal Keane wrote about children in war because Gaza made him realize he was watching the same trauma repeated after decades of reporting.
- He links bombing, blockade, hunger, collapsing healthcare and constant fear of not waking up the next day.
His Childhood Drove Him To Hear Silenced Children
- Fergal Keane traces his focus on children to a childhood shaped by alcoholism, fear, shame and sudden disruption at home.
- He says he learned to stay quiet early, then later felt responsible for telling stories children could not easily tell themselves.