A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
I suppose it is a bitter irony that the name Ishmael alludes to one who is exiled from humanity and destined to roam the wilderness for a lifetime. This is the same fate of the child-soldiers of Sierra Leone who were engulfed in the conflict between the Revolutionary United Front, and the All People's Congress governmental army. This biography is a vivid and poignant account of a former recruit, and the struggles and sufferings he endured. The author is unflinching, and makes clear, he witnessed atrocities and and took part in them. But the level of depravity that the war induced is still shocking.
Rebels cut off the heads of some peoples family members and made them watch, burned entire villages along with the inhabitants, forced sons to have intercourse with their mothers, hacked newly born babies in half because they cried to much, cut open pregnant women's stomachs, took the babies out and killed them
The carnage of such scenes paints a picture of humanity and its worst. However it seems that, only by recalling such experiences can the narrator do justice to the pain which they evoked. There is a implicit belief that by delineating such misery and bloodshot, a sense of clarity can be gleaned. This becomes a catalyst which makes readers aware, informed and ready to help. A visual emblem, which stirs our empathy.
Beyond this, the biography is also about trauma. Ishmael is plagued by nightmares and flashbacks which show a mind that has been completely ripped apart by his experiences. He tells us:
I lit a lamp and as soon as the room was bright, I saw men standing all around. They had circled me in the dark. I could see their bodies-except for their faces, which were darker as if they were headless walking beings [...] They begun to shoot, stab, and slice each others throats. But they would rise and then get killed again. Their blood began to fill the room its tide quickly rising [...] Each time a person was stabbed, I felt it worse; I saw blood dripping from the same part of my body as that of the victim. I began to cry as blood filled the room.
It is astonishing a human being can even survive such emotional carnage let alone overcome it, but its true, this story is essentially one of triumph, even in the face of adversity, which makes it an inspiring read. Ishmael's life has been harrowing, not just because he became a child-soldier but because of the continual violence that the civil war created for the country long-term. Despite this, he is rehabilitated but even more so, becomes an international spokesmen for the UN around the issue of using children in warfare. He recalls at the UN Economic and Social Council he 'proudly sat behind the Sierra Leone name plaque,' and told the packed audience:
We are all brothers and sisters. What I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge in that process I will kill another person, whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge will never come to an end.'
The message is simple but this doesn't hinder its timely precision.
I do not normally read biographies but was enthralled by this one. There is quiet lyricism to the work which takes us to the frontline of the battles, on a journey too close for comfort. More than anything else, the author turns his own personal story of suffering into a universal one. While lying in the forest he recalls 'the leaves of the trees began to rub against each other, resisting the wind. More branches snapped in the forest and the wailing intensified. The trees looked as if they were in pain. They swayed in all directions and slapped each other with their branches.' Perhaps this analogy really conjures up the magnitude of such a war, and its devastating consequences on a country pushed to the brink, that even the very earth trembles in horror.
I suppose it is a bitter irony that the name Ishmael alludes to one who is exiled from humanity and destined to roam the wilderness for a lifetime. This is the same fate of the child-soldiers of Sierra Leone who were engulfed in the conflict between the Revolutionary United Front, and the All People's Congress governmental army. This biography is a vivid and poignant account of a former recruit, and the struggles and sufferings he endured. The author is unflinching, and makes clear, he witnessed atrocities and and took part in them. But the level of depravity that the war induced is still shocking.
Rebels cut off the heads of some peoples family members and made them watch, burned entire villages along with the inhabitants, forced sons to have intercourse with their mothers, hacked newly born babies in half because they cried to much, cut open pregnant women's stomachs, took the babies out and killed them
The carnage of such scenes paints a picture of humanity and its worst. However it seems that, only by recalling such experiences can the narrator do justice to the pain which they evoked. There is a implicit belief that by delineating such misery and bloodshot, a sense of clarity can be gleaned. This becomes a catalyst which makes readers aware, informed and ready to help. A visual emblem, which stirs our empathy.
Beyond this, the biography is also about trauma. Ishmael is plagued by nightmares and flashbacks which show a mind that has been completely ripped apart by his experiences. He tells us:
I lit a lamp and as soon as the room was bright, I saw men standing all around. They had circled me in the dark. I could see their bodies-except for their faces, which were darker as if they were headless walking beings [...] They begun to shoot, stab, and slice each others throats. But they would rise and then get killed again. Their blood began to fill the room its tide quickly rising [...] Each time a person was stabbed, I felt it worse; I saw blood dripping from the same part of my body as that of the victim. I began to cry as blood filled the room.
It is astonishing a human being can even survive such emotional carnage let alone overcome it, but its true, this story is essentially one of triumph, even in the face of adversity, which makes it an inspiring read. Ishmael's life has been harrowing, not just because he became a child-soldier but because of the continual violence that the civil war created for the country long-term. Despite this, he is rehabilitated but even more so, becomes an international spokesmen for the UN around the issue of using children in warfare. He recalls at the UN Economic and Social Council he 'proudly sat behind the Sierra Leone name plaque,' and told the packed audience:
We are all brothers and sisters. What I have learned from my experiences is that revenge is not good. I joined the army to avenge the deaths of my family and to survive, but I've come to learn that if I am going to take revenge in that process I will kill another person, whose family will want revenge; then revenge and revenge will never come to an end.'
The message is simple but this doesn't hinder its timely precision.
I do not normally read biographies but was enthralled by this one. There is quiet lyricism to the work which takes us to the frontline of the battles, on a journey too close for comfort. More than anything else, the author turns his own personal story of suffering into a universal one. While lying in the forest he recalls 'the leaves of the trees began to rub against each other, resisting the wind. More branches snapped in the forest and the wailing intensified. The trees looked as if they were in pain. They swayed in all directions and slapped each other with their branches.' Perhaps this analogy really conjures up the magnitude of such a war, and its devastating consequences on a country pushed to the brink, that even the very earth trembles in horror.
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