A Long Way Gone

Beasts of No Nation

"Cool"

A Long Way Gone

• Time's top 10 nonfiction (2007)
• "Beah's autobiography is almost unique. . . perhaps the first time that a child soldier has been able to give literary voice to one of the most distressing phenomena of the late 20th century"

Ishmael Beah

• Born: Nov 23, 1980 in Sierra Leone
• Child soldier at 13 years old
• Now: Author, UNICEF Ambassador for Children Affected by War, Human Rights Activist

From Child Soldier to Human Rights Activist

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

• Civil war 1991-2002
• Revolutionary United Front (RUF) promised end to gov't corruption; free education and health care
• 11,000 child soldiers involved
• 50,000 killed; 500,000 displaced
• diamond mining industry

The RUF

RUF

• Led by Foday Sankoh (1937-2003)
• Formed under slogan: "No More Slaves, No More Masters. Power and Wealth to the People."
• Faced 17 counts of war crimes: crimes against humanity, rape, sexual slavery, extermination

Untitled Slide

RUF

• Soon devolved into enslavement and terrorism of its own people
• Common practices like using child soldiers, "brown brown," RUF initials, "One Love" and "Short sleeve or Long sleeve"
• And more... you'll read Beah's account

Sugarhill Gang

Child Soldiers

A Child Soldier is...

• “any person below 18 years of age who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys, and girls used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes.”

Child Soldiers

• According to UN in 2016: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
• ~250,000 (as young as age 7) boys and girls

“Children are cheap, expendable, and easier to condition into fearless killing and unthinkable obedience.”

How?

• Forcibly abducted into rebel or gov't armies
• Voluntarily if no alternatives (starvation; families killed)
• Drugs; brainwashing; ritual killings
• “You didn’t really care what you were doing... I didn’t think there was any point in being alive anyway.”

Blood Diamonds

• aka Conflict diamonds
• U.N. estimates RUF exported $25 to $125 million per year in diamonds; others' purchases fueled their war efforts

Extras

Rehabilitation

"Because I am a girl"

The Lost Boys of Sudan

Where does your t-shirt come from?

Why bother?

"Voice to the Voiceless"