A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Reviewed by Never Again International – Canada Chapter Coordinator in Florida, Ruth Gonzalez 

Ishmael Beah was a young twelve-year-old boy living in a village in Sierra Leone doing the things any young boy would do.  That was about to change when the notorious bloodthirsty rebels of the Revolutionary United Front attacked his village leaving horror and death in the aftermath.  Trying to escape, he was eventually caught by rebel forces and was pumped with drugs, images from the movie Rambo, and brainwashed.  It was then, Ishmael was forced to do the unthinkable:  killing others.  

It is estimated that over 300,000 child soldiers fighting in various conflicts worldwide – the majority of them in Africa.  Children robbed of their homes, families, and of their very lives.  There have been many resolutions and initiatives against the use of child soldiers, most notably the report by Graça Machel, the former first lady of Mozambique, in 1996.  For a lot of people, there is a will among them to stop the use of child soldiers and that one day, it will be a thing of the past.  Sadly, Ishmael’s story is not the first and will not be the last on the devastating experience of a child soldier. 

As I read this book, many questions popped up:  How could such a thoughtful and kind-hearted boy be capable of such monstrosity?  Who in their right mind would force a child to pick up a rifle and kill without a second thought?  I know the answers to these questions, but they rest very uneasily on my mind.

Ishmael is one of the lucky ones who managed to escape and become an advocate for the hundreds of thousands of children being used as weapons in wars created by adults.  “A Long Way Gone” is a brutal but beautifully written memoir of survival, redemption and renewal.  If anyone wants to understand the affects of war and the plight of child soldiers, then this is the book to read. 

Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War by Jimmie Briggs

Reviewed by Never Again International – Canada Chapter Coordinator in Florida, Ruth Gonzalez

Never Again International - Canada's board member Jimmie Briggs and author of Innocents Lost is pictured with Florida Chapter Coordinator Ruth Gonzalez

            For decades, children have been employed to fight the wars that rogue warlords start.  Fighting for land, ousting governments, or forced to extract diamonds, child soldiers have been known not to show mercy as they set out to destroy lives.  In most cases, these children have no choice but to fight if they want to survive.  In other words, kill or be killed.

            Jimmie Briggs, an American journalist and human rights campaigner based in New York, went to Rwanda in 1997 and was haunted by the horrors he encountered after the genocide.  That set in motion the idea for Innocents Lost, a culmination of many years of research on the phenomenon of child soldiers.

            The most poignant and moving aspects of this book are the personal stories of children bearing witness and/or participating in some of the worst conflicts in history.  We meet Francois, a sixteen-year-old living in Rwanda in 1994.  His father was Hutu while his mother was Tutsi.  With the aid of drugs, a hoe, and an ultimatum, he killed his Tutsi nephews.  Eugenie, also sixteen, was abducted by Hutu extremists and repeatedly raped for days.  This points out the devastating reality of girls being used as both sex slaves and soldiers.

            Rwanda is only the beginning, as Briggs explores, in great detail, how child soldiers are used in several conflicts including, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Afghanistan.  Despite receiving worldwide attention with Graça Machel’s report, “Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” in 1996, this issue is, in some ways, on the backburner.

            However emotionally difficult this book is to read, it is well worth it.  The power behind Innocents Lost is how Briggs puts human faces to each of the conflicts and does not just offer statistics.  As a result, Jimmie Briggs does justice to the hundreds of thousands of children still fighting in wars or trying to escape them.  Innocents Lost is a necessary read in learning and understanding more about child soldiers.

They fight like soldiers, but die like children

They fight like soldiers, but die like children. 

Such are the words of Senator Romeo Dallaire, retired lieutenant general, humanitarian, and former head of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Rwanda.

“When (a child soldiers) is about to die, all the evil that has turned that child into a warrior dissipates. They go from being an aggressive warrior, shooting up the place, to just a child.”

On Friday, May 3, the Faculty of Theology at The University of Winnipeg awarded Dallaire a Doctorate of Sacred Letters in recognition of his global humanitarian work, in particular his commitment to ending the use of children as weapons of war.

The University of Winnipeg confers honorary degrees upon Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire and Father Patrick Desbois.  Chancellor Bob Silver and Vice-Chancellor Lloyd Axworthy congratulate the two honourees.

 “I am absolutely delighted,” says Dallaire. “The University of Winnipeg is a very human environment, with a culture of people wanting to interact with human rights. That's absolutely precious to me.”

Many Canadians are familiar with Dallaire for his work trying to prevent the 1994 Rwandan genocide by appealing to the United Nations for military reinforcement.

Since then, Dallaire has committed his life to ending the phenomenon he first witnessed in Rwanda—that of the recruitment and use of children in armed military conflict.

Most child soldiers in the world live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Global indifference to the plight of children forced to fight is one of the frustrations Dallaire finds in his work.

“It's fundamentally hypocritical to see some children as more deserving than others,” says Dallaire, drawing a comparison between Canadian children and child soldiers.

He contends that children should be allowed to be children, despite what they may have lived through.

“It's a disparity that goes beyond poverty and lack of opportunity.”

Melanie Tomsons is the executive director of Never Again International Canada. For her, Senator Dallaire's recognition by the University of Winnipeg is a direct contribution to her organization's overarching goal.

“It furthers our vision of a peaceful world that celebrates our common humanity and says "Never Again" to genocide and the use of child soldiers in conflicts around the world,” she says.

Tomsons adds, “We need to recognize humanitarianism and build a new generation of leaders who shape the future.  By conferring this honorary degree, the University of Winnipeg recognizes the best of humanity in Canadian society.”

Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire inspires the next generation of peacebuilders

Winnipeg High School students congratulate Romeo Dallaire and Father Patrick Desbois on their honorary degrees.

Others in the Winnipeg community also share her sentiments.

Rev. Dr. James Christie is the dean of theology at The University of Winnipeg, and one of the people who has supported Dallaire in his efforts through the university's Child Soldiers Initiative.

“Despite setbacks globally with respect to the fate of war-affected children, the General has persevered despite enormous personal cost.  His commitment has been for a lifetime, ever since his rebirth after the horror of Rwanda, and a Doctor of Sacred Letters is awarded to a layperson for a lifetime of engagement.”

Dallaire received his degree at the same time as Father Patrick Desbois, a Roman Catholic priest working to preserve memory of the Holocaust and fighting anti-Semitism.

Column by Amanda Thorsteinsson

Pictures by Melanie Tomsons