A child's journey through hell and back

Ishmael Beah tells his story…It’s 1993 in his country of Sierra Leone. He’s a happy go lucky normal 12 year-old boy with a fixation for American rap and hip-hop. One day, he, along with his older brother and good friend, travel to a nearby village to participate in a rap contest. To save money, they decide to walk the 16 miles. Since it is only to be a day trip, they wear only the clothes on their back. They decide to stay the night in Kabati with Ishmael’s grandmother before continuing on their journey. The next day they arrive to their destination, the town of Mattru Jong only to hear that school has been canceled because word has spread that the rebels were on their way to attack the village. They learn that the war has already swept through Ishmael’s village, leaving nothing and nobody alive. Thus begins the longest nightmare of Ishmael’s life. He and his brother decide to turn back in hopes to find their parents, only to find their home in rubbles, and no sign of their parents. They never saw them again. Ishmael is eventually separated from his brother by the rebel army and for a year he runs and walks alone throughout the country desperately trying to escape the rebels. He witnesses unimaginable acts and bloodshed that will forever taunt his mind and heart. A year later, he is captured by the government army of Sierra Leone and forced to be a boy soldier to fight the rebels. He is trained to kill anyone who is not a government soldier and to commit horrible acts himself. Little had he know that on that day to the rap contest a year ago his childhood would be lost forever. After three years in the government army, at age 16, he is rescued by UNICEF and taken to a recovery center where he suffers severe withdrawals, anger, and self hate, and psychological torture from memories and images of the last 4 years. He eventually travels to the United States and gets a degree in Political Science and becomes a member of the Humans Right Watch Children’s Rights Division Advisory Committee and speaks on behalf of the suffering and war of his people in Sierra Leone and throughout Africa. A powerful moving story that causes me to ask the question, What now? How can I help? How can we help fellow humanity in war-torn nations? What does it look like for Jason and I to fight injustice as we live here? May we never let ourselves become ignorant of the world beyond us.

~n