A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kEL_LRBSqk

Connection:
Ishmael Beah story reminds of the movie "Blood Diamond". This is because the movie is about rebels that take over the countryside that is rich with diamonds. The rebels kill families and use the men to find diamonds and the children are used as soldiers. The movie mainly revolves around 1 mans family and how his son is taken away from him to be a child soldier. It shows what the children go through to be forced into becoming a soldier. In the end the boy does return to his father. This relates to Ishmael Beah's story because Ishmael went from having a totally normal life to being a soldier and killing others that have done nothing to him. Ishmael was eventually rescued but still brainwashed by his commander. This is just like how the boy who was a solider went against his father because thats what his commander told him to do. The boy returned to his family and went back to living his life, Ishmael went to rehab and ended up becoming a author.

Challenges:
How did Ishmael decide when he was told "to kill or be killed" when in the end both situations could have ended with him dying? After going through what Ishmael went through, what made him so okay with sharing a story that negatively impacted his life in so many ways?

Concepts:
The key concepts that are worth holding on to from this text would be where becoming a child soldier became Ishmael's new reality. This was a really important part in Ishmael's life because it was the point in his life where everything he ever believed in or cared about was taken away from him. The 2nd key concepts from this interview would be when 1 adult, which was the nurse, helped Ishmael back on track. This was important because it was the turning point in Ishmael's life. He had trouble with a lot of things, like sleeping and trusting people again, but this was the point in his life where he had to learn to go back to life he had before.

Changes:
The changes in attitude, thinking and action from this interview is when Ishmael goes to rehab and learns to lead a normal life again. This is because Ishmael goes from totally brainwashed, having trouble trusting people to becoming very successful in sharing his story.