Sierra Leone is bordered by Guinea, Liberia, ant the North Atlantic Ocean. The natural resource in Sierra Leone that is coveted by Americans is Diamonds. Sierra Leone's government is a democratic system that consists of multiple political parties
The RUF is an acronym for the Revolutionary United Front. The RUF were a group of rebels in sierra Leone who attempted to overthrow the government. Their goal was to overthrow the Sierra Leone government because they didn't agree with the actions.
The war in Sierra Leone was started by the RUF. Throughout the war the RUF captured land inching closer and closer to the capital city Freetown. The RUF funded themselves using the diamond mines that they captured from the country. Child soldiers were a huge part of the war on the side of the RUF, they were captured/recruited to join the war on their side.
Children are being exploited as soldiers in the countries Afghanistan, The DRC, and Myanmar. In Afghanistan children are being killed exploitesd and sexually abused. In the DRC young girls are used as wives for commanders and are often sexually abused. In Myanmar young boys are often forcibly recruited into the army.
Organizatios such as Unicef, Human rights watch, and Child Soldiers International are working to stop this issue by campaigning to prevent child recruitment, supporting reintigration (returning child soldiers to their families), and holding those accountable for recruiting children as soldiers.
The UN are trying to to help rehabilitate Child soldiers who have experienced more traumas than the average american adult by helping them to find their familes, and helping with their physical and mental health.
Ishmael Beah is now 36 years old and living in New York City. Beah wrote his book using the method of just writing what happened to him without any prewriting/planning. Ishmael attended college at Oberlin College in Ohio. Music had a huge influence on Beah's life the group that basically introuduced him to hip-hop/rap style was a group called rappers delight.
Ishmael Beah wrote this book to show people how children were used in wars to help educate people to stop this.
In this video Beah talks about how neither side of the civil war in sierra leone was favorable over the other becaus they were both stealing civilians money and food, along with commiting other atrocities.
Credits:
Created with images by sitsgirls - "AFRICA.Episode 3: Congo" • BigMikeSndTech - "IMG_3707"