What You'll Learn:
What do you do when your home is attacked by a band of bloodthirsty revolutionaries and you are forced to flee everything you’ve known in order to survive? Ishmael was just twelve years old when these questions came hurtling towards him.
Key Insights:
- The first whiff of war came from fleeing refugees passing through Ishmael’s village.
- Soldiers assigned to defend the town of Mattru Jong abandoned villagers just before the rebels pillaged their home.
- You can outrun the Revolutionary United Front for a time, but you can’t outrun hunger.
- Rebel armies used drugs and leveraged basic human impulses to attract child soldiers.
- In war, no one is “the good guy.”
- Ishmael left unrest and violence in Sierra Leone when he moved to NYC, but making peace with the past is an ongoing process.
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