As a teenager in war-ravaged Sierra,Leone, Ishmael Beah was brainwashed, drugged and forced to kill.
"We went from children who were afraid of gunshots to now children who were gunshots," says Beah who became separated from his family at just 12 years old when his town was attacked.
He says his family were later killed in the country's vicious civil war, which lasted from 1991 to 2002.
During this period rebel groups like the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) -- who were notorious for hacking off limbs and indoctrinating children into their struggle -- fought government forces and their offshoots for control of the diamond rich West African state.
Desperate for help, Beah says he wandered the countryside with a group of other children who had lost their families in similar circumstances.
They managed to avoid the roaming RUF rebels but witnessed gunfights, ransacked villages and countless dead bodies along the way.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/08/world/africa/ishmael-beah-child-soldier/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
Replies
Children should not be taught how to kill. they should also not have to go through such a terrible war. It is weird to think of children killers.
I think that the people who tought the kids to kill people should be put in jail. No child should have to be druged and then have to go and kill someone. Its just not right.
It is an awful site to see and never forget the dead bodies possibly limbless and to probably see others die before their eyes and at a young and enough to remember it should be a nightmare to endure.
I think that this is truely sad. I mean, that the war is a place that even grown men have scars from. Some scars that they will never forget, or will ever go away. Physically and Mentally. To send kids out is horrid. The thought makes me sick. There is a reason they passed a law, so things like this wont happen.
These poor children have been traumatized with all the sites they have seen. It would be hard to shake the "feelings/emotions" that you can get from something like this. I'm glad that I don't have to witness such horror.
Wow I can't believe they would meke children fight! That's just rediculous! This is just as bad as what Kony is doing to them over in Affrica. I wish no one would be so cruel!
i dont think children should be put in war, theres a reason they passed laws for this.
I think that this is terrible and children should not be placed in those conditions. I guess those comercials were right.