Final Post on A Long Way Gone

I really liked the book, but I thought it left the reader hanging and I don't know if I would read the sequel. There were parts of the book where I felt very apathetic towards Ishmael Beah and all of the people he encountered. There were times when I was absolutely repulsed by what Beah could do with a gun. And there were times when I was really hoping Beah would get better in his rehabilitation process. I would recommend the book to anyone, but I would forewarn them that there are times that it does get slow, and in my opinion it was never a fast read even at the interesting parts. Beah is truly an inspirational person and I very much respect him for what he has come over as a person. Some of the choices he has had to make as a human being have been so unfair and no one especially no child should ever have to make any choice like he did when faced between his life or the life of others.

I'm glad I read this book to coincide with my project for invisible children. It gave a more in depth look at what a child soldier really goes through in the field and what they need to go through after they get off the field rehabilitation wise. I really hope that more people can understand how important it is to protect the rights of children and how much help they need and will need for the rest of their lives if they ever have to fight as a child.

yours truly,
Amy

A Long Way Gone #5

In The last section of A Long Way  Gone, Beah is in New York at the conference. He sees snow for the first time. Get to experience the reality of New York, and attempts to reconnect with his uncle. Unfortunately he and his uncle never meet, but the times he has in New York are memories he will never forget. He starts up school again when he is in the city. He doesn't like American food, and he doesn't understand why Americans keep it really hot inside their house. At the conference, he confesses that he too is just  child and that the reason he joined the army was "because of the loss of family and starvation. [He] wanted to avenge the deaths of his family. [He] had to get food to survive, and the only way to do that was to be a part of the army" (Beah 123). But leave it to Beah's life to take a turn for the worse as gun shots start going off the morning after the conference. Allegedly there was a new President of Sierra Leone and he was Armed Forces Revolutionary Council or the (AFRC). Later in the night, the RUF came on the radio and stated that they were "ousting the government" (Beah 203). Beah knew that he didn't want to return to his old life. He didn't think that he wouldn't be able to make it out alive. At the end of the book, Beah does go back to Sierra Leone. He knows it's the right thing to do. Dangerous but right.

yours truly,
Amy

A Long Way Gone #4

After UNICEF gets a hold on Beah, he is then sent to a rehabilitation center so he can work on getting better and improving himself so he can go back into society unviolently. In the rehabilitation center, they let Beah listen to music, and dance. Beah was still an angy person though. He had just fought a hard war. He had run. He had killed. After he got to the center, he took a liking to one of the female nurses. She changed his bandages for him and helped him with some other medical needs as well. During his time in the center he had a hard time opening up to people. He would have severe flash backs to the war which would only reverse his progress. Eventually what would help Beah would be to dance to his hip hop music. This brought on childhood memoris that made him forget about what happened in the war and really focus on what happened when he was younger. After getting out of Rehab, Beah is headed of to NY. He was enthused to go, suitcase in hand, not knowing anyone on the other side.

Beah knew he would have more opportunities in the United States. There wasn't as much violence, there were more jobs, and there was more to do overall. Beah was getting ready to explore a new world that would be entirely different than the one that was infront of him currently. He was ready to move on from one horrible part of his life and onto one new chapter

yours truly,
Amy

A Long Way Gone #3

In the third section of A Long Way Gone, Beah does what most people would imagine to be the unthinkable. He is forced into becoming a child soldier and fight and kill and torture other human beings. Beah was being brainwashed into thinking that what the soldiers were doing was okay, humane, and right. Beah notes, "I shot everything that moved until we were ordered to retreat because we needed another strategy" (Beah 123). He started doing drugs, acting out, and doing the unimaginably horrid duties that the soldiers wanted him to do. They are essentially only there to convert them into being little killers to follow in their lead. Beah struggles with the issue of violence at such a young age and it's sad to see what he has to go through to deal with the life he has been given. By the end of the section, UNICEF, an organization designed to protect children's rights, saves Beah and exclaims, "[they] are there to protect [them] and will do all [they] can to make sure nothing happens to [them]" (Beah 123).

One of the problems was that when Beah was fighting, he was given food and a place to sleep every day. How enticing is that? When you are running away for so long, and once you are caught you are given what you don't have daily! Just as long as you do one simple task. Dancing with the devil. I'm not saying what Beah did was right- not that he had a choice, but in the event that he did, would he have resisted?

yours truly,
Amy

MoI: Invisible Children article #5

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/lra.htm

The final article I read for this section of the marketplace of ideas was about the UPDA turning into the LRA in 1991.  Joseph Kony had refused to go along with a peace agreement that would have ended some of the violence. There after, the LRA kills, tortures, rapes, maims, abducts, and in other forms abuses children who are forced into being soldiers. More than 6,000 soldiers were abducted in 1998. This is a number too large but one that unfortunately continued to grow at rapid speed. The LRA claimed that they were basing their work on the Ten Commandments, but if you ask anyone outside the LRA, the Ten Commandments would be seemingly far from the work that they are doing. Amnesty International has done a lot to help the war, but it is a very hard battle against the LRA and Joseph Kony. Because no numbers are kept for records on how many children have been abducted, killed, raped, maimed, sold to sex, there is no way in knowing the extent to how horrible this war actually is.

yours truly,
Amy

MoL: Invisible Children article #4

April 21 2011 Invisible Children's '25' campaign Mobilizes 100,000 Young People to Stay Silent for 25 Hours; Featured on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" www.12newsnow.com/story/14490140/invisible-childrens-21-campaign-mobilizes

This article is short, but it focuses on the 25 event that happened on April 25 but from a pre event standpoint. It mentioned that the event was in place to raise awareness for all of the "invisible children" in Uganda. The event wanted to have each participant raise at least 25 dollars on April 25 and stay silent for 25 hours for the 25 year war on April 25. Overkill on the 25 thing? I think not. At the end of the night, and depending on what city you live in there may be a concert that will be in place to break the silence. It will feature bands like the Plain White T's, Rogue Wave, Peter Pisano of Peter Wolf Crier, Faces on Film, and David Archuleta. The campaign at the time had raised over 600,00$. Good job Invisible Children!

yours truly,
Amy

MoL: Invisible Children article #3

April 15 2011 Article: "I escaped life as a child soldier" http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/2011/04article-%E2%80%9Ci-escaped-life-as-a-child-soldier

This excerpt from Stephens past was very moving. Although it was only a few pages it went int great depth about the things that kept him going during the horribly hard times that he was going through. At only 16 years old Stephen was abducted and taken with about 40 other young men by the LRA. He went into talking about how his faith was the only thing that kept him going and his prayers were the only thing he had. He had lost his family, his friends, his belongings- everything. Stephen knew that he wasn't dead and that he could manage to live on. He explained that boys were forced to kill and girls were forced into being sex slaves. They were forced to live in horrible conditions. Stephen then escaped. He walked for days and days and finally one day he needed to sleep.When he awoke there was a Ugandan soldier was there to get him to a hospital and help him find his family.

yours truly,
Amy