When There is Nothing Else Left - Simply LOVE

The first example of pure love is a nurse in the city of Freeport who helps Ishmael in the process of rehabilitation. She told Ishmael to think of her as a sister. He definitely used her to help to find himself again and how to love.

While in rehab, Ishmael mentions his Uncle Tommy's name when he is asked if he has any known relatives. His uncle is found and takes Ishmael in to live with him. Sadly his Uncle Tommy died.
But a woman named Laura Simms took Ishmael into her home in New York City. She became a new mother figure in his life. She housed him and supported him through his peace conferences and every day life.

There is Always Hope

Throughout most of the book, I was questioning wether or not to be hopeful for Ishmael. There were new hardships he faced every day that stuck out quite a bit. It took a little more thinking to realize the good in his journey, but it is definitely there.

Ishmael was rescued by UNICEF and was taken into a home in New York City. He was still on the road to recovery but ended up attending the rest of high school and got a college degree at Oberlin in politics. He has been chosen by the UN to speak at several conferences. He now works at the Human Rights Watch Children’s Division Advisory Committee as a UNICEF ambassador. See a recent video of Ishmael and the work he does for UNICEF here.

To me, Ishmael's story is remarkable. From being a young boy forced to be in a war to a successful ambassador in the US that is working to improve his home country is amazing. God works in mysterious ways and Ishmael's story proves it.

War is a Nightmare

After reading several chapters about the cruelty that Ishmael faced while running from the rebels, my heart broke inside. I can't imagine being threatened to be killed, living by myself for a month in a forest, starving so bad that I don't have the energy to drink water, and having not knowing if my family is still alive. For Ishmael and several other kids, this was life for about 3 years.

Ishmael was captured and forced to become a soldier at the age of about 13. He began to be addicted to marijuana, cocaine and white capsule.

One thing that Ishmael said that really impressed me was, "My squad is my family, my gun is my provider and protect, my rule is to kill or be killed." As you can tell from this quote, Ishmael and the other soldiers in his group were brainwashed. Sadly there are still many stories of child soldiers today that have to deal with the same types of problems. An article relating to this is found on the Invisible Children website.

The current war in Uganda is extremely similar to the war that Ishmael had to go through in the 1990's in Sierra Leone. There are thousands of children who have been forced to be child soldiers for the LRA. They are brainwashed and do not know anything but war, just like Ishmael. It is sad to see that horrible situations such as this are still going on today.

Introduction

I have recently read the book A Long Way Gone,By Ishmael Beah. This is a story of a young African boy living in Sierra Leone. His village is attacked by rebels and he is forced to flea from his country. Eventually, Ishmael miraculously made it to New York City and the book goes on to tell about his new life. After reading the book, I noticed three major themes:
1) War is a nightmare that nobody wants to be caught in
2) There is always hope
3)When there is nothing else left, simply love

These three themes will be targeted in my blog relating to A Long Way Gone