Childhood Lost: Ishmael Beah's Sierra Leone War Memoir

The Sierra Leone Civil War, was a brutal, and in my opinion unnecessary war, that lasted for eleven years. For eleven years, the people of Sierra Leone went through unimaginable pain, and through a memoir written by a boy named Ishmael Beah, we gain a window into the minds of the very people who worked so hard to escape the war. Ishmael like many children, was forced into becoming a hardened and cold soldier thanks to the war. Fortunately, he is saved, and thanks to many people in his rehabilitation center, is able to heal and reconnect with the boy he had been before the war. This is his account and his attempt to educate us all on what exactly it means to grow up in a warring country.

The Sierra Leone Civil War had begun in 1991, yet it

One of the most common psychological effects of war is ‘Post Traumatic Stress Disorder’. Children and adults often suffer flashbacks, restless behavior, and may avoid situation, places, and people that remind them of traumatic events they’ve suffered through. “Whenever I turned on the tap water, all I could see was blood gushing out. I would stare at it until it looked like water before drinking or taking a shower” (p. 145). Ishmael here had seen so much bloodshed, that even the simple act of seeing water pouring, was enough to take him back to the war. Another effect that they often experience is depression. These children are filled with hopelessness, and helplessness. They’ve witnessed many violent acts, and after repeated exposure they stop believing that they can escape, or do anything to help. In addition, children suffer many physical repercussions. As Ishmael had noted he for example received multiple bullet wounds, bruises, and cuts. Other children may have become disabled due to lack of limbs as a result of grenades or landmines. Seeing as Ishmael is a male, he doesn’t discuss some of the physical consequences female soldiers faced. Many would be raped, resulting in children, or in them never being able to conceive a child. These violent physical acts, often led to the girls becoming traumatized, and developing the earlier mentioned effects of PTSD, or depression. Unintendedly, children are often displaced,

I know that I personally always knew that war was shown through rose-colored glasses, but never had I imagined what I read in Ishmael’s story. It was an awakening to see just how badly war affects a country. It’s not just death, and pain. Some of these children lose everything; their childhood, innocence, and humanity. The entire country is in upheaval, and disarray, everyone searching for shelter and food when honestly most will die trying to feel safe. It shows that even when everything has been lost, these people cling to hope, believing they will be reunited with their family, and that the war will eventually end. Ishmael suffered, and witnessed things no child could, but with the help of others heals, and helped advertise just what was happening in his