Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone and at the age of only 13 was selected to fight in war. After many gruesome years of war UNICEF helped him in rehabilitation. Ishmael, being born in Sierra Leone were he was once subjected to being a child soldier, is now apart of many organizations that give refuge and relief to children who are in the same situations as he once was as a kid. He is now an ambassador for UNICEF, and is apart of many other organizations helping kids in war, including the Children Affected by War program. To this day Beah has helped over 150 kids and still continues to help children daily. Ishmael Beah is the not the same man he was forced to be years ago. He has dedicated his new life to helping others and following in the footsteps of the people who have helped him. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34776109/thirty-years-of-talking-about-famine-in-ethiopia---whys-nothing-changed

In this article they discuss the facts of the famine in Ethiopia over the last 30 years. It starts with a quote from an Ethiopian official saying "There will not be famine of any sort, let alone anything remotely like the magnitude of that of 1984." This gave hope to the people of Ethiopia and to the people around the world. In 1984 many famous musicians, like Bob Geldof, joined together and formed Band Aid. As Band Aid they wrote a song called "Do They Know It's Christmas?”-the single raised over millions of dollars and billions of supporters. In only a couple of weeks aid started to reach Ethiopia. Overall a million people have died of famine and the area has dealt with famine in years since, but overall the country is healthier than it was 30 years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/south-sudan-thought-it-had-solved-its-child-soldier-problem-it-hasnt/2015/11/12/dc52fe42-8488-11e5-8bd2-680fff868306_story.html

This article addresses child soldiers specifically in South Sudan. It talks about the young girls and boys who are forced to become child soldiers because they were "taken from their homes and schools and forced onto the battlefield." It is estimated that the government and rebel forces have recruited about 16,000 children since this war began in 2013. After war is over or "if in rare cases these children are released” children can be left with psychological effects. Many boys and girls have lost their families and have witnessed or contributed to murder and abuse. Because of this and because of chaos in the country, children should not be punished for war crimes. Their instinct to survive was stronger than common sense and in this case should be expected.

The novel A Long Way Gone is a very touching and an inspiring book. While reading this book I felt very attached to the main character, Ishmael Beah. He was a young boy who had become a child soldier after losing his family. I assume the reason I had become so fascinated by his story was because he was my age. Most adults reading this book definitely would feel bad for him, but I think I felt a sense of shock; I couldn't believe that someone at the age of 14 or 15 had become, basically, a mass murderer. It made think about how different these countries, America and Africa, are. Here I was reading this book thinking "Wow. That's terrible" and on the other side of the world children the same age as me were actually living this "story". Granted this specific occurrence took place about 20 years before I had read it, but the events are still happening to this very day. Reading this book has changed my perspective on many things. It makes me realize how very fortunate we are, as Americans, to be able to live in a place where becoming a child soldier is not an option. In the book Beah says he had to learn to shoot a gun in one day and used it to kill people the next. After reading this, I had a newfound respect for the children in Africa. All the things these children have seen and done before the age of 12 is more courageous and heartbreaking than anything I could every do.

Memoirs are an important, if not the most important, types of writing. It gives the reader insight on things happening in the world and first-hand accounts of the events taking place. In memoirs, unlike in other stories, the reader can almost be put into place of the characters. Memoirs are first person, so when the audience reads the words "I" or "we" they become attached to the story. Some argue that memoirs are not a plausible explanation of history. Critics say that events are dramatized and give exaggerated versions of the past. Examples in the novel A Long Way Gone are the dates Beah claims to remember. The journalists who wrote "The Fog of Memoir" claim that rebels took over Sierra Leone in 1995 not in 1993 like Beah accounts in his novel. In my opinion, getting dates wrong is not a valuable reason to distrust an author. In time of war and distress there is no possible way that anyone is expected to remember events exactly the way they happened. Some argue that authors specifically tell fake stories to make their writings sound better, or more interesting. Even if this was true, and in some cases it is, authors have a story to tell. If that story is modified slightly to change the perspective of the reader than I think it was well worth it. People usually don't realize what's happening in the world and if an adapted depiction of a serious event gets them to at least worry about the chaos in other countries the author has done his job.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/magazine/child-soldiers-betancourt/

Memoirs are a very important style of writing because they provide a reader with more than just the facts of a situation. They show a reader the personal emotions that go along with experiencing something terrible and provide a window into how that situation would affect them. In other forms of writing, there is no personal connection between the author and reader. In books like Night, by Elie Wiesel, the author is able to answer questions he knows the readers will have. Many memoirs, such as A Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah, have had some controversy over the facts of the story and whether or not they are true or false. The article The Fog of Memoir by Gabriel Sherman addresses the topic of Beah being criticized for having possibly embellished the facts of his story to make more money or draw more attention to himself. I believe that an author deserves the poetic license to embellish their story only if in the name of pushing more people to care about the topic being addressed. The line must be drawn at doing this in the name of money, an act that only belittles the author’s struggles by turning them into schemes. If adding a few details that make the story more of a page-turner influences more awareness in readers, why not? Certainly, Ishmael Beah, evident in his activeness in organizations like UNICEF, continues to work toward the reintegration of children displaced by war and if his novel drove more people to do the same, where is the harm?

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2008/03/the_fog_of_memoir.html

http://www.ibtimes.com.au/malaria-vaccine-rtss-can-have-significant-health-impact-says-study-1481709

http://www.beahfound.org/

http://www.alongwaygone.com/