Informative Writing
Child Soldiers by Joseph Chae
Child soldiers are soldiers who fight for a military for no purpose at all, except they get food by the military. It is a law that Children should never be used in war in any type of fighting. Child soldier’s age ranges from eight to fifteen. These recruited soldiers are used as fighters, cooks, suicide bombers, human shields, messengers, spies and even for sexual purposes. As like in the book A long way gone by Ishmael Beah, the child soldiers are forced to kill the civilians in towns the military comes across to get supplies. Girls make up 10 to 30 percent of the child soldiers, and they are mostly used for sexual purposes. Some countries that reported use of child soldiers are Afghanistan, Colombia, India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Mali, Pakistan and many more. As in the book, A Long way gone Ishmael joins the army and is treated to drugs, that make him violent. This book gave good information of a life of a child soldier and the effect that has in life later on. Ishmael has a trauma which causes several disorders and that is based on what a child soldier actually experiences. So I think this book gave the reader good information to know what is going on in to child soldiers, and this book persuades people to donate and help the children in need.
This book has helped people understand the problems they don’t face in their lives, this book motivates the people who has money, and help they don’t need. I think this book will be beneficial to the people who are in need.
This book has helped people understand the problems they don’t face in their lives, this book motivates the people who has money, and help they don’t need. I think this book will be beneficial to the people who are in need.
Paul Kim
18 November, 2013
Ms.Clarke
The book,A Long Way Gone is about Ishmael Beah’s life story. The book starts telling about his life story starting from his childhood, his experiences through the civil war, and his life after the civil war.
To talk about how Sierra Leone’s civil war history I believe that we have to start from what kind of historical background Sierra Leone had before the Civil war.
“1500-Early 1700s:European traders stop regularly on the Sierra Leone Peninsula, exchanging cloth and metal goods for ivory, timber, and a small number of slaves.
...1787 British abolitionist help four hundred freed slaves from the United States, Nova Scotia, and Britain return to Africa to settle in what they call the ‘province of Freedom,’ in sierra Leone. These Krio as they come to be called, are from all areas of Africa. ... ... 1792 Freetown becomes one of Britain's first colonies in West Africa.
...1808 Sierra Leone becomes British crown colony. The British governors Freetown as its naval base for antislavery patrols.
...1898 Britain imposes a hut tax in Sierra Leone, decreeing that the inhabitants of the new protectorates be taxed on the size of their huts as payment for the privilege of British administration. This sparks two rebellion in the hinterland:one by the Temne tribe and the other by the Mende tribe.
… April 27, 1961 Sierra Leone Becomes independent, with Milton Margai as its first prime minister. The country opts for a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations. The following year, Sir Milton Margai’s Sierra Leone People's Party, which led the country to independence, wins the first general election under universal adult franchise.
… March 1991 A small band of men who call themselves the Revolutionary United Front, under the leadership of a former corporal, Foday Sankoh, begin to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone, on the liberian Border.”(Beah 219-222).
So in a nutshell, Sierra Leone was inexistant until in the 1700 it was just a small tribe. But in 1787 as escaped/ freed slave arrive around the current Freetown and construct Freetown. But right after that in 1792 it becomes a part of the British Empire. Later on after the wars, in 1961 it is finally free and it has a government that the citizens support. But in 1991 the RUF comes up as a raider/ revolutionary it goes around killing people and raids them. So that the the history of Sierra Leone before RUF.
18 November, 2013
Ms.Clarke
The book,A Long Way Gone is about Ishmael Beah’s life story. The book starts telling about his life story starting from his childhood, his experiences through the civil war, and his life after the civil war.
To talk about how Sierra Leone’s civil war history I believe that we have to start from what kind of historical background Sierra Leone had before the Civil war.
“1500-Early 1700s:European traders stop regularly on the Sierra Leone Peninsula, exchanging cloth and metal goods for ivory, timber, and a small number of slaves.
...1787 British abolitionist help four hundred freed slaves from the United States, Nova Scotia, and Britain return to Africa to settle in what they call the ‘province of Freedom,’ in sierra Leone. These Krio as they come to be called, are from all areas of Africa. ... ... 1792 Freetown becomes one of Britain's first colonies in West Africa.
...1808 Sierra Leone becomes British crown colony. The British governors Freetown as its naval base for antislavery patrols.
...1898 Britain imposes a hut tax in Sierra Leone, decreeing that the inhabitants of the new protectorates be taxed on the size of their huts as payment for the privilege of British administration. This sparks two rebellion in the hinterland:one by the Temne tribe and the other by the Mende tribe.
… April 27, 1961 Sierra Leone Becomes independent, with Milton Margai as its first prime minister. The country opts for a parliamentary system within the Commonwealth of Nations. The following year, Sir Milton Margai’s Sierra Leone People's Party, which led the country to independence, wins the first general election under universal adult franchise.
… March 1991 A small band of men who call themselves the Revolutionary United Front, under the leadership of a former corporal, Foday Sankoh, begin to attack villages in eastern Sierra Leone, on the liberian Border.”(Beah 219-222).
So in a nutshell, Sierra Leone was inexistant until in the 1700 it was just a small tribe. But in 1787 as escaped/ freed slave arrive around the current Freetown and construct Freetown. But right after that in 1792 it becomes a part of the British Empire. Later on after the wars, in 1961 it is finally free and it has a government that the citizens support. But in 1991 the RUF comes up as a raider/ revolutionary it goes around killing people and raids them. So that the the history of Sierra Leone before RUF.
R.U.F (Revolutionary United Front) By Simon Nam
The civil war illustrated as the main background of the story was formed and caused by the RUF, which was a rebel group that wanted to change the structure of the government in Sierra Leone. The RUF was created by a leader named Foday Sankoh. It took about eleven years to end this war and Ishmael’s childhood life was part of this war. He was a victim of it, but later on he joined an army which fought against the war for the revenge of his families and friends’ death. The revolutionary war started in 1991 lasted till 2002. The rebels were trying to earn the equal freedom of citizens of Sierra Leone by getting rid of the government officials, but they were instead being cruel and attacking villages with killing innocent people. The first time Ishmael met the RUF soldiers was when he was at the village of Mattru Jong with his friends. Ishmael and his friends were shocked to see how violent the RUF soldiers were killing the village people. After they saw the image of RUF soldiers, they decided to never face them again. After the RUF troops grouped with the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council), they have attacked Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone to cause another coup. Many citizens of Sierra Leone have feared of them and almost 200,000 were killed in this devastating war.
The civil war illustrated as the main background of the story was formed and caused by the RUF, which was a rebel group that wanted to change the structure of the government in Sierra Leone. The RUF was created by a leader named Foday Sankoh. It took about eleven years to end this war and Ishmael’s childhood life was part of this war. He was a victim of it, but later on he joined an army which fought against the war for the revenge of his families and friends’ death. The revolutionary war started in 1991 lasted till 2002. The rebels were trying to earn the equal freedom of citizens of Sierra Leone by getting rid of the government officials, but they were instead being cruel and attacking villages with killing innocent people. The first time Ishmael met the RUF soldiers was when he was at the village of Mattru Jong with his friends. Ishmael and his friends were shocked to see how violent the RUF soldiers were killing the village people. After they saw the image of RUF soldiers, they decided to never face them again. After the RUF troops grouped with the AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council), they have attacked Freetown, the capital city of Sierra Leone to cause another coup. Many citizens of Sierra Leone have feared of them and almost 200,000 were killed in this devastating war.