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.