Finished A Long Way Gone!

Finally I finished the book, especially since the ending was great. The war was over and Sierra Leone managed to put down the rebellion. Child recruiting was stopped, and the rebels are now a political party. Ishmael Beah was rescued by UNICEF officers and was later on taken to his uncle's house in Benin, due to all of the violence. He stayed in his uncle's house for a while and returned to Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone (quite ironic right?). The town was raided by both the RUF and the government. He later on escaped to Guinea and he flew to the United States, New York to be specific.

Before he came to the U.S., he was called to a UN meeting to talk about his experiences in the war and how it went for him. An interview was set up and he told everything from the drugs that he took - to the people that he slaughtered. 

He later returned to Sierra Leone with Mohammed, his new brother, after he lost his family in the war. But there was a new attack on the way back, this time, it was the Sierra Leonian Army which attacked Freetown. The attack didn't manage to turn into another war though, but it was still scary for the people, especially the one that lived during the civil war. 

Ishmael Beah now lives in Brooklyn, New York, and is now a UNICEF member and a human rights activist in the United Nations. He continues to go through the struggle to make child recruitment history and to have children liberated and free of intense work or serving in the army.

This book was great compared to many books I read. And I was actually interested in this, especially since this is a non-fiction book. I would probably give this a 5 star rating due to the amazing story and its touching feeling to many children who are either living in free countries or child recruiting countries in this world.

Child Soldiers! Hate It!

I'm still on A Long Way Gone, but while I was reading this book, I started to think about something. Something terrible. There were child soldiers in the book and there are still child soldiers in countries today. Think about this! Children that are our age being legally taken away from their families by the government, and are trained to kill people (well, there are ones ho are just crazy and would have no problem killing people). But why would any government not want the children of their people not have a good life and just want them to join the military? That's just messed up and intense for anyone.

As of today, there are only 14 countries that have child soldiers, and the ones who recruit them are mostly the rebels or terrorists in those countries. But that is not enough, there are still many children that have only known how to shoot people. In 2001, the number of countries with child soldiers was more than double of the countries that have child soldiers today. Here is a map of the countries that have child soldiers today.

This was exactly what happened at the end of my reading of this book. He was taken by the government and he was given an AK-47 and expected to go out and kill some rebels. Honestly, the children didn't want to be in the army, but wanted to because the rebels would pay for all the people that they killed and the number of families that they destroyed. He ended up losing his friends, for sometime, and he was alone with a bunch of random children and only some adults that he was sent with. 

In this country, there's something called a shooting license and a legal firearms age. So don't expect us to carry M4A1s and Scars and shooting people. But if you go to the countries that are in red in the map, expect the government to hand you a machine gun or an RPG and to tell you to shoot people. To me, this whole idea of child soldiers is messed up and devastating. I don't want to see people as old as me in the battlefields or me even being in one! It's terrible that this still exists. I actually feel bad for the children that have to spend their childhoods with weapons.

What do you think about child soldiers? Should it be taken out? What do you guys think about the miserable children in these areas?

A Long Way Gone, Continuation

So I guess that the country went in chaos and all that matters now is survival. Ishmael got lost and he couldn't find his brothers or his friends. He went on hungry, tired, and very sad because he thought that no one would be there, due to all of the chaos going on in this country from the war. But at least he found new friends that would help him along the way and hopefully escape this place. He went into the woods and went to many villages to find food, water, and shelter. In 2 of his villages, it seemed as if no one really cared about the rebellions and no one even had the thought of 'will they kill us next?' or 'what should we do when they come?'. There were having parties everyday. The only thing that was able to stop them (for a moment) was the minute when Saidu, one of the boys, died in his sleep, and his funeral. So they left and all of them wanted to stop and cry, except for Ishmael, he wouldn't shed one, he can't. He just had to move on.

Personally, I couldn't imagine this happening to me and I hope that it wouldn't. But i can still relate myself to the author. For example, no matter what happens or what blocks him, he will never give up. I am the same. Send me into a war-zone and I would rather be in a cemetery than kneel before the enemy with my hands behind my head. I am not exaggerating this will happen if i am stuck in the same situation as him. Also, when something bad happens in that kind of place, I will pretty much act like I have a cold heart or am heartless. I normally let all the sufferings pass by and stick to what I have to do. So he and I have some things in common.

One thing that still bothers me is that they haven't even thought about trying to get to a radio station and get help or just contact any rescue team. Also, I am still wondering when he actually gets taken by the government and becomes a boy soldier. Because he and his friends are acting kind of like fugitives that are trying not to get caught.