Wounded in War is an exclusive Radio Tamazuj series that tells the stories of soldiers and civilians injured in South Sudan's civil war. If you know a wounded person who would like to share their story with Radio Tamazuj, please fill out this contact form.

Gatwich Chuol is only fifteen years old, but he has suffered more than most people experience in a lifetime.

Since the start of South Sudan's civil war eight months ago, Gatwich was forced out of school, shot in the head, and he lost his father.

Yet Gatwich's story begins with a stroke of good luck. In 2011, a doctor met his family in his hometown Yuai in Jonglei's Uror County and agreed to sponsor school for him and his younger brother.

Gatwich had never been to school before, but soon he found himself in the state capital Bor where he began his studies.

English was Gatwich's favorite subject. He liked the food too--they served chapati.

Gatwich made friends with his new classmates. They nicknamed him 'Nani,' after the Manchester United player, because he was so good at football.

Watching airplanes take off from Bor's busy airstrip, Gatwich decided to become a pilot someday.

"I want to carry people through the sky and fly very fast," he says.

But in December 2013, the war came. Bor became a battleground. School closed.

Gatwich and his brother fled to the UNMISS base.

They had little protection, not even a tent, when fighting raged outside.  All they could do was crouch on the ground, knees pulled to their chests with their heads down.

That's how he sat when a stray bullet hit him.

The bullet grazed his right temple and entered his right leg.  He remembers seeing blood before fainting.  When he woke up, he was in the UNMISS clinic.

For a month he stayed there, suffering from constant headaches as he learned to walk again.

When he healed the fighting had paused and he was able to take a car home to Yuai.

His mother remembers the moment he arrived.

"I ran and hugged him because he was still alive," she says. "I only thought, I will feed him and it will be okay and he'll go to school here."

Seven months later, however, schools in Yuai are still closed because of the war.

With displaced people sharing the family's grain, there's not much food to go around either.

"Life is very bad here," Gatwich says. "Bor was better. We were doing school, and there was good food there."

Gatwich thought nothing could be worse than getting shot and missing his education.

Then, three weeks ago, Gatwich's father was killed on the frontlines at Ayod. He was shot in the head, according to the soldiers that broke the news to his mother.

"I've gone through so much," Gatwich says. "I can't ever bring my father back."

Related: Wounded in War: injured soldier struggles to pay for treatment

Photo: Gatwich Chuol, left, and his younger brother in Yuai. Gallery: Gatwich Chuol shows his gunshot scars on his head and leg

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