A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

By Ishmael Beah

This is a fantastic book. This is an autobiography of a 12 years old boy soldier caught up in Sierra Leone's civil war. It is so hard to imagine that a war is going on on the other side of the world. Living in the United States, I do believe that the media do censor a lot of stuff of what is going on in the world. Reading this book, it's so hard to imagine everything this 12 years old boy had to go through. To lose your family and having to join the army to survive. Then to become immune to the killing. I guess it is true. When you are regularly expose to mutilation, you are no longer disguised by it or surprise. This has made me very thankful for the living environment we have in the United States and appreciate everything we have. What I thought was pretty cool was that the rehabilitation center that Ishmael was brought to was sponsored by UNICEF and partnering NGOs. I remembered in high school, I would help raise money for UNICEF but I never really understood what they did. I guess every little bit did help. It made me happy that everybody's effort to help raise money for UNICEF, no matter how small, helped. Sometimes it is hard to see the impact you may have on the world.