Child Soldier in Swahili really depends on which dialect of Swahili that you want. It is evident that our esteemed asker John is in need of the Kingwana dialect word for Child soldiers. Now, in Kingwana and ordinarily Child soldier is referred to as Mutoto Soda (singular) and Batoto Soda (plural). However within the military where these child soldiers are/ were deployed they coined a slang word for them. To them, Child soldier is referred to as Kadogo (singular) and Bakadogo (plural). But in the Standard Swahili (which I subscribe to and is proud of) Child soldier may be referred to as askari mtoto or mwanajeshi mtoto (singular) and askari watoto or wanajeshi watoto (plural).

Other colleagues may want to refer to the Child soldier as mtoto askari or mtoto mwanajeshi (singular) and watoto askari or watoto wanajeshi (plural). Well, I cannot rush to disagree with them especially if I have not given my opinion on this like most of us do but now that I have I think I prefer the former - lest we start having polisi askari, kanzu askari, kongo askari, jeshi askari and the likes instead of having askari polisi, askari kanzu, askari kongo, askari jeshi and the likes.