My memoir, A long Way Gone by: James Beah, has opened me up to a new understanding of how great we have it here in the United States. We have a military that can and will protect us from sources of evil and terror. I also get to see my friends and family every day. The memoir has taught me not to take those things for granted. Many of you reading are probably aware of the summary and main idea of A Long Way gone. I am going to restate it anyways. It is about a young boy living in Sierra Leone, Ishmael. There is a war raging in the country that Ishmael thinks will never reach him. Little does he know it will become a part of his life every day. Constantly on the run, losing loved ones, switching groups, he struggles to find himself a midst the chaos. He is captured by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) a radical rebel group who uses child soldiers against their will.
The child soldiers are shown in the picture above. They were forced upon drugs and learned and adopted a brutal way of life in order to survive.
Child Soldiers Article
The research is focused on how the RUF forces children that decided to have no part in the movement (even demobilized ones) to rejoin. The RUF threatened to kill everyone in the demobilization camps if not. The article states that over 50 children were removed from refugee camps dude to falsely created rumors about reuniting the children with their families. It also states that female abductees are regularly raped by RUF members. This connects to my realization because the horrors of the war in Sierra Leone are so shocking to me. How the government could allow those things to happen. It once again makes me realize how safe it is here . I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like. This video has more info on Ishmael.
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