A Long Way Gone

It was really hard for me to read about child soldiers because as an advocate for children, I never like to read about children struggling or losing their innocence, which I have done this entire quarter. I could never imagine risking it all for the thought of a corrupted government, and seeing as a child was put out there to do just that is mind blowing.  A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah was an extremely graphic and depressing story of children put into the Sierra Leone Civil War. Before researching this story, I didn’t have any background of how being a child soldier was like, let alone the dangerous country this story took place in. One of the many issues I had with this story was how the soldiers became so dependent and addicted to marijuana, cocaine or any other forms of drugs. Ishmael is only twelve years old! Yet he has a dependency issue of a middle aged man. To see a child struggling with an addiction was really hard for me, seeing as I have never seen a young child participate in such risk taking behaviors. He was becoming just another dangerous killer in the war. The way he thought the war and all the horrifying things that come with it is simply the way of life was heart breaking.  The brainwashing that went on throughout this story was upsetting. I also was really upset that he had no recollection if his family was alive or dead after the RUF destroyed his village. I may have my difficulties with my family, just as anyone would, but to never know if they were alive or dead after something like that happens would be the end of my world.

I was really excited once the story took a turn for the better, as UNICEF rescued the boys and placed them in rehabilitation centers. I feel as if this wasn’t available for the boys, there would have been no way of changing their ways of thinking about themselves or the war. Ishmael was able to realize that the war wasn’t his fault, and was trapped in a position of tragedy. He is now able to contact and spread the word to others and educate on the war plus the effects it played upon him growing up.  

My ending thought is the fact that these things all went on, and when I grew up, I had a very easy life in comparison, though I would always complain that my life was difficult. I could never imagine being put in any of the shoes we’ve read about this past quarter, and knowing that these things are going on today make my stomach ache. I have a lot to think about before our final project, and I hope to be able to wrap my head around all the stories we’ve read to make an honest decision on how I would like to live the rest of my life.

Sierra Leone

              Sierra Leone is a country bordered with Guinea, Liberia and the Atlantic Ocean. The Capital is Freetown with the official language being English. The 2013 estimate of population is 6,190,280 people. Education in Sierra Leone is legally required for all children to at least have six years of primary level school, and three years in junior secondary education, but since there has been a shortage of schools and teachers, it has been near impossible to implement those regulations. The Sierra Leone Civil War resulted in the destruction of 1,270 schools and left 67% of children out of school. Something I found interesting is the government has instituted free health care for pregnant and lactating women, plus children under the age of five. Seeing as the infant mortality rate is one of the highest in the world, the health care can help and save children from dying. During the Civil War, many soldiers took part in atrocities and many children were forced to fight. This left them traumatized, with an estimated 400,000 people (by 2009) being mentally ill. Thousands of former child soldiers have fallen into substance abuse as they try to blunt their memories. Mental health care is still not a service offered in the country five years after the Civil War ended in 2002. Mental healthcare in the country is almost non-existing; many sufferers try to cure themselves with the help of traditional healers, some of whose practices can be useful.

             The Sierra Leone Civil War that took place from 1991 to 2002 when the Revolutionary United Front intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. Joseph Momoh was the president of Sierra Leone from 1985 to 1992, where he pretty much destroyed all of their economy. Sierra Leone got to the point where they could not afford to import gasoline or fuel, which resulted in the country looking electricity for months at a time. Momoh efforts did nothing for the country and he was overthrown in 1992. During the first year of the war, the Revolutionary United Front took control of large portions of territory in east and south Sierra Leone. There were various changes in the war, especially the South-Africa based private military company which was hired to in March 1995 to repeal the Revolutionary United Front. In March of 1996, Sierra Leone installed an elected civilian government and signed the Abidjan Peace Accord. There was so much danger going on in the country, over 50,000 people have been killed to date and over one million have been displaced. Each side has used a large number of children soldiers. As a possible, but fragile, peace deal had been agreed to in 1999, this made a bit of media attention. The UN-brokered peace deal however fell under much criticism. Human Rights Watch, for example condemned the UN on this peace deal because it would give amnesty to the rebels for their human rights abuses. Even Kofi Annan tried to clarify that while peace may have been agreed to, this does not give amnesty to anyone for human rights abuses. However, the Sierra Leone government has the "sovereign right" to do this, leaving the UN with a weak excuse to concede that it is not a perfect situation, but it is all that can be done to prevent the war from continuing.  At the beginning of July 2000, the United Nations Security Council decided to impose an 18 month ban on diamond imports from Sierra Leone, since diamonds have been fueling the conflict. I read that Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it has the richest natural resources and minerals.

Revolution is not a Dinner Party

             As someone who has very little knowledge of Asian history and backgrounds, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party came as an incredible shock to me. This is the case with all the texts we have read so far, but this one in particular really struck me. Familiarizing myself with the time period and culture of the area was a challenge for me. Also I found myself sympathizing with several characters in the text, but could not truly visualize the events happening. Yet, Ling’s relationship with her family, classmates, and revolutionaries in China showcase her growth as a young child, struggling through this intense time in Chinese history.

            Recognizing this setting that Ling was in, was extremely difficult for me. I found myself involved in her story, but could not completely understand. I tired to familiarize myself of this history through the help of Google, but I still got lost. Though I had this challenge, I still read this book as the young adult fiction book that it is. Realizing Ling’s perspective of her surroundings allowed me to further feel her pain. For example, when Ling makes the connection between her mothers long white rope, and the long white rope around the baby doctor’s neck she fears for her mother’s safety. This then leads to a commitment to protect her mother. Again, the same theme follows where the child is looking out for the parent and it truly breaks my heart. This challenge led to yet another challenge of visualizing the surrounding of the text.

            I enjoyed Ling’s nicknames for certain people in the book such as Chopstick, Short Legs, and Mouse Eyes. It gave me the insight to her innocence, which I feel as if she was trying to hold on to that for as long as she could. Since so much of reading comprehension develops through visualizing the story’s world in one’s head, the story became more of a challenge. Though I had this struggle, I overcame it when discovering the varying relationships Ling had with the people around her.

            Ling has a distinct relationship with her father that shows how much this country is struggling. Honestly, when a doctor can be thrown in jail, but still be kept close because of his impeccable surgery skills, there has to be something wrong. So Ling’s relationship with her father develops and when he is snatched away from her, her world is turned upside down. Now feeling like she needs to take care of her mother, she does things such as lie to get meat. Survival is a great theme across many of the titles we have read, but this one especially. More people that Ling has good relationships with have been taken away from her such as Mrs. Wong and Nui. She also has a difficult relationship with her classmates; she has difficulty socially in school with fitting in. Violence ensues when her peers push her over the edge, which causes more trouble for Ling and her mother. Fortunately, Ling gets to reunite with her father and the story has a sense of closure.

            Overall, Revolution is Not a Dinner Party showcases several historical hardships that Ling struggled with, but it happens to be that it helped reach the destination of some sort of peace within herself and family. Though I had challenges with this book, I mainly feel that it is a great selection for children to take part in reading. It gives insight to a preteen’s life that is unlike many that we encounter in our lives.

           

           

China and the Cultural Revolution

                Quick Facts

                -China’s Capital – Beijing
                -Official Language – Chinese
                -Population – 1,350,695,000 people
                -GDP – 9.182 Trillion

                Off of the top of my head, I do not know much about China, but with research I was able to gain knowledge that I was unaware of. First of all, it’s not just China, it’s the People’s Republic of China. I found it interesting that China is governed by the communist party, with the government city being Beijing. Since the economic reforms, China has become one of the world’s fastest growing major economies. It has the second largest GDP and it is also the world’s largest exporter and importer of most goods. Also, it has been recognized as a nuclear weapons state and has the world’s largest standing army with the second largest defense budget. I found that crazy, and as a good rule of thumb, don’t mess with China. I looked into the schooling regimen of China, which is composed of primary and junior secondary school which lasts together nine years. About 82% of students continue their education at a three year senior school, which I would think would be comparable to the United States High School. In February 2006, the government pledged to provide a completely free nine- year education, including textbooks and fees. I thought that was great, seeing as families struggle to send their children to school, this wouldn’t be a problem anymore. I found it interesting that the life expectancy is about 75, but the infant mortality rate is 12 per thousand. That is getting better since the 1950’s, but they all seem to gravitate around malnutrition and stunting. China has a horrible pollution problem which doesn’t help that most of the population engages in smoking cigarettes. The air pollution has caused the population to become densely populated and in 2010, air pollution cased 1.2 premature deaths in China.

                I learned a lot from researching the Cultural Revolution, seeing as I didn’t know much before. The Cultural Revolution was a social-political movement in 1966. The goal of the revolution was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society and of course, impose Maoist orthodoxy within the party. Mao alleged that bourgeois elements were infiltrating the government and they needed to restore capitalism. Millions of people were persecuted in the violent factional struggles that ensued across the country, and suffered a wide range of abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of the military leader Lin Biao in 1971. After Mao's death and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, reformers led by Deng Xiaoping ended the Maoist reforms associated with the Cultural Revolution. In June 1981, the Central Committee announced the official verdict: "The 'cultural revolution', which lasted from May 1966 to October 1976, was responsible for the most severe setback and the heaviest losses suffered by the Party, the state, and the people since the founding of the People's Republic." Overall, I think this sets up the book “Revolution is not a Dinner Party,” really well and I can’t wait to discover the insight of a family who had to go through such a horrific thing in culture.