How Brian Cole, one of Australia's best chefs, was so close to becoming a child soldier
'We're going to play a game of hide-and-seek.'
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An otherwise fun activity for any five-year-old turned out to be one that saved Sierra Leone-born Australian chef Brian Cole from being abducted and recruited as a child soldier 28 years ago.
The chef de cuisine at Hearth, the signature fine dining restaurant at Perth's Ritz-Carlton, in Western Australia, still vividly remembers that harrowing moment.
His mother told him and his cousin, another boy, to hide under the stairs of the house and wait to be found. However, Cole could feel something was wrong. The adults were running around scared, and there were sounds of people screaming all over the neighbourhood.
Soon after, there was a loud banging on the door, followed by a booming voice asking, 'Where are the boys?'
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'There are no boys here,' his mother said defiantly.
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